Brightest at Night
by laughsandgiggles
Summary: Dawn takes a stroll at night and runs into Paul! After a very strange conversation, Dawn starts to see a different Paul from the one before. But its going to take a lot of effort to break through to the man she sees.
1. First Meeting

So here is my very first Ikarishipping story. I got inspired and just started writing. I've always thought this couple would have the most interesting stories considering Paul's behavior in the anime. So I decided to give it a shot, tell me what you think! Oh and I don't own Pokemon.

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Dawn woke up startled. Her forehead was damp with sweat and she looked around the tent hastily. To her relief she saw that all her poke balls were safely in her bag and that Piplup was sleeping soundlessly. Her hand instantly drifted to her chest, breathing out in relief. She tried shaking off the thoughts of her nightmare. Dawn sighed and gathered her hair in a ponytail not bothering to see if it was stylish at all. After all it was the middle of the night, no one would see her. And with that in mind she stood up and decided to go for a nice midnight walk to soothe her mind.

As soon as she stood up she realized she was going to take a walk in pajamas. She was about to reach over to her bag and change but decided it wasn't worth the time. She did however put on some socks and sneakers. She giggled at the thought of how ridicules she probably looked knowing full well she would never be caught dead with this outfit on during the day. With a small smile on her face she stepped out of the tent.

The group had decided to set up camp somewhere between Pastoria and Hearthome. They had found a small but suitable clearing in the forest not too far from a creek. Dawn stood by the tent and saw Ash and Brock cuddled up in their sleeping bags. Pikachu had curled up on top of his master's chest. Dawn sneaked past them not wanting to disturb her friend's peaceful sleep.

As she got a good bit into the woods and away from the campsite she loosened up. She walked with soft steps knowing that the cute sleeping Pokemon that she saw cuddled against each other in the trees could easily transform into scary and pissed of little monsters if woken. But she enjoyed the silence and peacefulness of the scenery. After a few minutes she was getting rather annoyed with how baggy her pajamas were, she found it difficult to walk like that and pulled the legs of the pajamas up so they were above her knees. Satisfied she continued aiming to relax at the creek.

When she reached the creek she took off her shoes and her socks. Dawn dipped her long, slender legs into the creek. She winced slightly at how cold it was but soon relaxed. It was very surreal scene. The moon could barely be seen in its shining glory from above the trees that were behind her. Dawn loved traveling with Brock and Ash, but she was enjoying herself with no company. It was good to have some alone time.

She lifted her head away from the creek and was about to look up again at the moon when she caught two lavender eyes staring at her from the trees behind her. Dawn, bewildered, stood still afraid of who it was.

"Crap." the figure said harshly. Dawn frowned, her fear alleviated as she recognized the voice.

"Paul?" she said in disbelief. She stood up to try and get a better look, it was indeed Paul. Knowing he was caught the purple-haired boy stepped out from the behind the trees and glared at her. Dawn glared right back. He hadn't changed from the last time he was abusing Pokemon, Dawn thought to herself bitterly. Same old outfit, same long hair, same annoying glare, and same lavender eyes. Dawn had to admit, though begrudgingly, that his eyes actually complemented him nicely and they were gorgeous. And Dawn had always thought that that long shaggy hair was kind of cute...Dawn blushed realizing she had just paid Paul several compliments on how he looked in her mind.

"Great, its you." he mumbled. Dawn growled at the comment and stomped her foot impatiently.

"Excuse me! First of all my name is Dawn!" She muttered angrily. Paul raised his eyebrows and stared at her, bored. This only added to the girl's fury, which of course added to Paul's amusement.

"And whats wrong with seeing me!" Dawn added, only realizing how childish it sounded until after saying it. Paul smirked slightly before responding.

"Have you looked in the mirror recently?" he asked still sneering at her. Dawn would have exploded if it wasn't for the fact that it was the middle of the night.

"What!" she hissed, "I happen to look way better than you in your sweatpants and your messy hair." she rattled on other misgivings about Paul's appearance.

"Currently?" Paul interrupted to ask. Dawn, with her mouth still open, was confused by the question and was about to rebuttal when she paused with horror creeping in on her face. She hesitantly looked down and was instantly reminded at what she had worn on her walk. She looked up completely embarrassed.

"I'm in my pajamas." she said weakly. Paul snickered at her silently. It took her a moment to recover, her face fully flushed as she glared at Paul.

"Alright so what I'm in my pajamas." Dawn said confidently, but inside she was reeling at how awful her situation was. Paul rolled his eyes at her attempt to play cool.

"What are you doing here?" Paul asked, surprising himself in a sense by continuing the somewhat awkward conversation with the girl. But he was slightly curious and it didn't look like she was going to leave him alone any time soon.

"I just wanted to take a little walk and relax at this creek." She said looking thoughtfully back at the stream.

"In the middle of the night?" he asked skeptically. Dawn shot him an annoyed look.

"Yes, untill you interrupted!" She huffed before asking her own question, "What are you doing here?"

Paul shrugged, indicating to Dawn that he wasn't going to give her a proper answer anytime soon. Suddenly from the forest came a large Torterra grunting heavily. Paul looked at him with the same stony indifference he had when talking with Dawn. The Torterra looked thoroughly exhausted and looked up and his trainer not deteriorated from his gaze. Dawn, however, looked at the grass Pokemon with concern wondering why it looked like it was just in a battle. That is when she came to a simple conclusion.

"You pushed him too far!" Dawn accused pointing a finger at Paul.

"What?" the boy asked giving her a frosty glare.

"You probably didn't think that poor Torterra was training hard enough during the day. I bet you made him work all night long, just because you don't think he's strong enough." Dawn narrowed her eyes at him. She had enough of Paul torturing his Pokemon and she wanted to stand up to him.

Paul gave her a crazy and slightly angry look at her thoughts. Torterra didn't seem to care and was struggling to keep on his feet. Dawn didn't budge from her stance.

"That is not what happened." Paul insisted. Paul's eyes widened, he didn't need to explain himself to anyone. Especially the little miss perfect standing in front of him.

"Yeah I bet." Dawn scoffed. Paul suddenly had a wave of rage pass over him.

"How dare you assume that something happened and then accuse me of mistreating my Pokemon!" Paul said his tone completely different and much angrier than before.

"It wouldn't be the first time." she countered sharply. "Every time we ever saw you...you just seemed to think the only use for your Pokemon was for battles. You threw away love and compassion and just focused on strength. I don't think my assumption is too far off from your past behavior."

"So that's it, you see me a couple of times and you think that's enough to judge me." Dawn hesitated, he had a point. Sure they had seen him plenty of times. But she honestly didn't know that much about the boy.

"And who the hell are you to judge me anyway." Paul growled angrily. Dawn was taken aback from this, but she refused to give in to his intensity.

"I am a trainer who loves her pokemon and shows appreciation and support to them all the time. I don't see Pokemon as tools to be used during battle! They're my friends and my partners in my journey and I treat them as such. And I hate to see others mistreat their Pokemon." Dawn, breathing heavily, stared into the cold purple orbs with anger. He simply stared back not flinching at the comments.

"What makes you think I share a different opinion." Paul asked quietly. Dawn looked at him incredibly, her eyes widening in shock at his reply.

Dawn wanted to laugh. She wanted to roll on the ground and laugh hysterically about how preposterous the idea was. At how wrong he was. Her mind flashed to all the times they saw Paul berate his Pokemon and treat them like dirt. She thought of poor Chimchar, and the rest of the Pokemon on his team. Paul was always so awful to everyone and everything. To think that he cared for anything was absurd. But she didn't laugh. Dawn just stared into his lavender eyes, and wondered with surprise at the sincerity the glowed in them. And with all the evidence she needed to prove him wrong, Dawn felt like she believed him.

She broke off the connection and stared hard at the ground. Dazed and shaken from the raw power of his gaze. Was it possible that he did care about his Pokemon? But after everything she'd seen of him it seemed hard to overhaul all of that just because he looked truthful. Why was she so interested anyway?

Paul shifted his eyes elsewhere when she broke of their connection. Did she believe him? Were his first desperate thoughts, but they died down instantly. Of course not he thought. The better question was why he even bothered talking to her. He was fine with simply teasing her. He enjoyed the reaction she made from a simple insult. She got flustered and it was kind of...cute. If she was a cute person, which she wasn't! Paul shook his head to prevent himself from straying to such bizarre thoughts again. When she started questioning his training beliefs why didn'y he just let her do it. Paul glanced quickly over to her. Why did he feel the need to explain himself to her? What was so special about her?

The ensuing silence only made Dawn feel more uncomfortable. Taking a big breath she nervously looked up at his face. He had also drifted his gaze elsewhere. But his eyes shined with a different emotion, like a certain thoughtfulness. Dawn curiously watched him, for the first time his features soft and dare she say gentle? Maybe there was something behind all of this after all. and for some reason Dawn felt like she needed to know.

"I guess I'll go now." Paul said. He was about to turn around when Torterra let out a huge grunt and collapsed on the ground. The enormous weight of the pokemon caused the ground to literally shake equally as powerful as if he had used Earthquake. Dawn felt ground from underneath her feet slip and she started falling backwards into the river. She closed her eyes ready to splash into the icy cold water when she was suddenly steadied.

She opened her eyes to see that Paul had grabbed her right hand to prevent her from falling. She looked startled from Paul's face to his hand holding hers. With the slightest tint of red in his cheeks Paul pulled Dawn away from the river bank and released her hand. Dawn gazed at him not moving from the spot where he released her hand.

Paul headed back to where Torterra was comfortably relaxing on the ground, the combo grass/ground Pokemon completely unaware of what he had caused. Paul took out a pokeball and pointed it at his starter Pokemon barely muttering the words return. The purple haired boy, then cautiously turned around to look at Dawn. She blushed brightly when his eyes turned to her, and Paul seemed secretly pleased at this reaction if only slightly.

"What?" he asked with a bored tone. She looked at him with a slightly determined face before meeting him with her eyes.

"Thank-you." she said pleasantly a small smile on her face. Paul froze looking at her without a glare or scowl on his face. He then nodded his head and went into the woods disappearing.

Dawn looked from where he left wondering about the bizarre conversation they had. First it was simple teasing, then angry yelling, and then finally they seemed to almost be pleasant to one another. She didn't know whether Paul did care about his Pokemon or not. But for the first time Dawn was seeing Paul in a different light. and he certainly looked very good in that light.

Dawn glanced back at her right hand. Although it wasn't the most dramatic or brave rescue in history, Dawn still though it was incredible. And when he grabbed her...His hands were rough, his fingers calloused. But in those few moments where they were holding hands, it felt right. As strange as it sounded her hand seemed to fit perfectly into his. She sighed and bent her head into her hands. Dawn now knew for sure that she was crazy.

Paul walked through the woods trying to busy his thoughts with anything but the crazy events that had just happened. But he couldn't, he just couldn't get Dawn off his mind. She used to be one of Ash's annoying cheerleaders. But it seemed, even if it was for a split second, that Dawn was the only person who seemed to believe he was telling the truth. Paul scoffed, she was probably thinking about what a horrible trainer he was already.

There was one thing, however, that was true. Paul glanced at his left hand. Her hands were soft, her touch delicate. In those couple of seconds their hands seemed to be perfectly connected to each other. Paul closed his eyes and sighed, continuing on his path.

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How is it so far? Should i continue? Please review!


	2. Just a Little Lost

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I would like to clear up some things, this story takes place before Chimchar joins Ash. I didn't want people to be confused about that. Also, I was wondering if I should add other pairings. And if so what should I do? Anyway enjoy and I don't own Pokemon.

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_Stupid, stupid Paul. _

That was all Dawn could think about. Every bit of their meeting last night swirled in her head. At this point she wasn't even sure how to define Paul at all. She first had to account for the fact that he could have been telling the truth, but then she reminded herself of his cruel treatment of his Pokemon. And yet, he seemed so angry when she accused him of abuse. And then when she looked in his eyes she saw sincerity. Pure sincerity in those gorgeous lavender eyes...

Dawn shook her head furiously. She couldn't let her mind drift to that. She conceded that he was somewhat, good looking. But Dawn still couldn't be sure of who Paul really was. Could one night really change her opinion of him? Dawn was so deep in thought that she didn't notice a certain raven-haired boy glancing back at her.

After packing up everything, the group had continued on to...the path they were on. Ash thought they were going to Hearthome, and Dawn didn't seem to give where they were going a single thought. And Brock, who was leading them, had gotten lost but refused to admit it to anyone still determined to find a way to Hearthome. Unknown to all of them was the fact they were traveling away from Hearthome.

For the entire morning Ash had noticed Dawn was acting a bit strange. She wasn't as chatty and excited. Dawn was being quite and thoughtful, a complete opposite of her personality. As curious as Ash was to why she was behaving this way, he decided to leave it be for now. Besides he didn't feel much for getting yelled at, because as Ash figured from past experiences whenever you question a girl about her behavior you either got smacked or yelled at. The boy winced remembering past blows and agreed even more to leave her be.

"Pikapi, pika."

"Whats up Pikachu?" Ash asked his electric Pokemon that was sitting on top of his head. Pikachu looked around suspiciously before staring straight at Brock. Ash curiously followed Pikachu's gaze towards Brock frowning.

"Pika, chu. Pikachu!" the Pokemon accused pointing at the older boy.

"Huh? We're lost? But Brock is..." Ash looked at Brock closely and only then noticed his extensive sweating and his face plunged in the map. "Maybe I should ask if we're going in the right direction." Ash walked faster to catch up with him.

"Uh, Brock?" Ash tapped Brock. The older boy barely acknowledged him. "Are we lost?"

"Um...of course not!" Brock nervously laughed and continued staring at the map. Ash seemed to accept the answer and allowed Brock to continue leading. Pikachu slapped Ash in the head.

"Ow! What?" Ash complained. Pikachu shook his head and jumped off Ash towards a tree. He slashed the tree with a swift Iron Tail. Pikachu ran back up onto Ash. "Pika."

"Oh, so if we see this again then we're lost." Pikachu nodded. "Alright, that works!" Ash said brightly.

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"Again."

Chimchar let out a enormous blaze of fire and started rolling forward as the flames engulfed his body. As the fire Pokemon started picking up speed the fire around him grew larger. Chimchar aimed towards a large boulder and continued to roll forward extremely fast. When the Pokemon collided with the boulder the contact caused a rather large explosion.

Paul stared forward with a straight face waiting for the smoke to be cleared. When it was all that was left was rubble from the boulder that exploded, and a coughing Chimchar. The fire Pokemon looked around and happily started cheering for his accomplishment. Chimchar winced slightly, he had gotten injured from doing the attack. But the Pokemon seemed happy and turned towards Paul looking for some sort of appreciation for his efforts.

But when Chimchar turned towards his trainer, Paul had his eyes closed and was shaking his head. Chimchar looked at him with confusion, he thought for sure he got the move right.

"Not strong enough." Paul muttered glaring at his Pokemon. Chimchar's eyes widened in completely destroyed a boulder, how much stronger did his attack need to be? The Pokemon's body lagged knowing he'd never please his trainer at this rate.

"Again." Paul said coldly. Chimchar looked at him with disbelief. The Pokemon turned towards his fellow teammates for support. All of them, especially Torterra, gave him icy looks. Chimchar sadly turned his head to the ground feeling completely alone. Trying his hardest the fire Pokemon prevented tears from falling, he didn't want to show any more weakness.

"Again, Chimchar." Paul yelled out to get his Pokemon's attention back. Chimchar closed his eyes for a second before lifting his head up. With his fists clenched and a sad dejected look on his face, Chimchar started to re-do the Fire Wheel he just finished. As Chimchar started he didn't pay attention to his teammates that had just rejected him give him sympathetic looks. Torterra sighed sadly and shook his head.

And while Paul was watching his fire Pokemon, hidden behind his cold eyes, the purple-haired boy sent Chimchar the same sympathetic look. Except his was mixed with overwhelming sadness as well.

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Ash, Brock, and Dawn were still on their way...somewhere. That is when Ash walked past the slash Pikachu had made earlier.

"Great." Ash said deadpan, "We're lost." Brock stopped walking and froze solid.

"We're lost?" Dawn inquired breaking out of her trance. Brock turned around smiling uneasily. "Brock!" she cried out.

"Hey look, if it makes you feel better we've only been lost since we left the campsite this morning." Brock explained hastily.

"How is that supposed to make me feel better, we're still lost!"

"That's true." Brock admitted.

"Now how are we supposed to get to..." Dawn thought for a moment, "uh...where are we going again?"

"Hearthome." Ash answered simply, he was used to getting lost and was happy that at least this time he wasn't getting blamed.

"Wait, I thought...what about you're gym battle?" she asked getting nervous.

"Nah, I only need to go to Sunyshore. So we're going to Hearthome so you can get your last contest ribbon."

Dawn obviously didn't know any of this. "Wait, so we're going to a contest hall? That means I have a contest in a few days...and I haven't trained at all! Oh no! I haven't thought of anything new to do. I had no idea...AH what am I going to do?"

"So you didn't know you had a contest today." Brock asked curiously, "I thought that was why you were so quite. I thought you were thinking of some new strategies for your contest. Wait so why were you so quite."

Dawn blushed and waved her hands wildly. "That isn't important right now! I have a lot to do!" And while that was true Dawn didn't want to admit that she was thinking about Paul the whole morning. There was no way she was telling the guys about Paul. Especially not Ash.

"Well lets get un-lost first!" Ash brought up. Pikachu nodded and raced over to Brock snatching the map away from him. Pikachu then took the lead, following behind him was his enthusiastic trainer, a depressed Brock, and Dawn who was a nervous wreck. And the group happily made their way to where they thought Hearthome was. Unfortunately nobody thought of the the fact that Pikachu couldn't read.

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Paul walked up to the roadside Pokemon center and was welcomed warmly my a Nurse Joy. He just nodded his head in return and handed her all of his poke ball.

"Is it just a normal check-up or is there anything specifically wrong?" The Nurse Joy asked kindly. Paul shook his head.

"Normal check-up." he muttered before stepping back towards the sitting area. There wasn't anyone there, which made him feel more comfortable. When he sat down he saw that the TV placed in the sitting area was on the Contest Channel. He scrunched his face in distaste and grabbed the remote about to flip through the channels when something caught his eyes, or rather someone.

Paul stared at the screen as a replay of an old contest, and there standing proudly with a Piplup by her side was Dawn. She was wearing a dress. And Paul couldn't help but think it suited her good. She had on a beaming smile while holding a ribbon between her index finger and her thumb. He beautiful blue hair had been but up in a ponytail and adorned with cute little bows. She seemed so happy, so why did Paul feel happy all the sudden.

He caught himself before staring too much and looked the other direction scowling. How could that annoying girl have such a strange affect on him? He tried convincing himself that the only reason he was paying any special attention to her was because of their incident last night. But as hard as tried to deny it, Paul had been feeling kind of strange around her. When he saw her just sitting near the river, she looked so peaceful and...for some reason it compelled him to just stand there and stare at her. And then that's when everything else happened.

Paul stared down at his hand, gently rubbing his thumb over his other fingers. _I can't, I can't think like this._ Paul clenched his fist a somber look appearing on his face, it was for the best. Just forget about her, she isn't that special. Paul just stared blankly at the ground.

"Excuse me!"

Paul turned around to see Nurse Joy holding a phone with one hand over the speaker. She smiled a him, "Someone is calling you." She set down the phone and walked back through the door she came in. Paul walked over and picked up the phone.

"Hello." he said.

"Hello Paul." a sinister voice answered back. Paul's face suddenly had a disgusted look on his face, his eyes narrowed about to reply.

"What do you want?" Paul asked coldly.

"I think you know." the voice answered back just as coldly. Paul clenched the phone, he looked at the ground taking a deep breath.

"I need more time." he said. The line went silent and Paul flinched knowing that this would probably be his reaction. "Look I know you're not happy. Neither am I, but I still need more time. You really don't have much of a choice at this point."

"There is one option." the voice answered with a playful tone.

"Look!" Paul said anger overwhelming him, "Just two weeks, that is all I need." Paul closed his eyes hoping that he would be able to buy more time.

"Fine, two weeks Paul. That is it." Paul slammed the phone back and stalked back towards the counter his anger from the conversation carrying over. Nurse Joy was standing behind the counter holding a tray with his poke balls. She had a somewhat displeased look on her face. Paul ignored her and grabbed his poke balls before turning around about to leave.

"Wait!" she called out. Paul stopped but didn't bother turning around. "Your Chimchar is looking rather depressed."

"I know." he interrupted rudely. He continued walking out of the center. Paul sighed looking up to see that the sun was going to set soon. He should have just stayed at the Pokemon center and slept there. But he knew tonight wouldn't be for sleeping, his thoughts slipped to the phone call earlier. Yeah, no sleeping tonight Paul thought continuing into the forest.

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The trio had decided to find a place to sleep for the night, another clearing in the forest. After eating dinner everyone was about to go to sleep. Dawn's thoughts were solely on the contest she didn't know she was in till a few hours ago. At least she wanted her thoughts to be solely on the contest. For some reason there was something else on her mind that she couldn't shake off.

Dawn peaked out of her tent seeing whether the guys had fallen asleep. She could only see Brock curled up in his sleeping bag, but she heard Ash's loud snores. Dawn hadn't changed from her traveling clothes. She grabbed her bag filled with her poke balls and walked out of the tent. She walked quietly passed her friends planning to do some serious training. Dawn heaved a sigh knowing that she'd probably wasn't getting any sleep tonight.

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Please review!


	3. A Lesson Learned

Uh...I got inspired. Sorry I took like what, 6 months to update. Please enjoy and review!

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Chimchar didn't seem very surprised when Paul called him back out in the middle of the night. The fire pokemon raised his head to see dark shadows covering his trainer's face. Although he was healed physically, the mental toll of the vigorous training Paul was putting him through drained Chimchar completely. But even if there was a small chance that he might get approval from his trainer, Chimchar would try his hardest.

"Flame wheel." Paul muttered motioning towards a boulder ahead of the pair. He had found a river bank to train at, very similar to a previous river bank he'd encountered. Chimchar nervously glanced at the cool water flowing beside him; Paul was quick to observe this.

"If you are able to control your speed while doing the attack you won't go into the river." He said coldly. Chimchar nodded but the snide advice didn't seem to alleviate his concern.

A loud snort escaped from behind him. Paul whipped his head back with a dangerous look.

"Alright, who is it?" he snarled, what person would be watching him train this late at night-

His eyes widened, a vision of Dawn in pajama's appeared in his mind. _It can't be._ He thought, that would just be too ironic. But of course sneaking out from behind a tree was the embarrassed looking Dawn. She could feel his icy gaze on her which made her drop her head in shame. After all he just caught her spying on him of all things.

He eyed her suspiciously, two nights in a row. It might have been a coincidence but Paul didn't like taking any chances. Even though she seemed sweet and innocent it could all easily be a façade. His face hardened, Paul didn't like being fooled.

"Okay let me put this simply, what the hell?" he blatantly asked. Dawn scowled at the tone of his voice and planted a knotted fist on her hip.

"Don't get too smug with yourself; I didn't come out here just to watch you." She informed him with her nose held high. Paul raised his eyebrow, unconvinced.

"Really, then what were you just doing?" She looked flustered at the question and growled when Paul gave her a evil smile.

"I just happened to walk by, oh don't give me that look!" She snapped at him for the sarcastic expression on the purple-haired boy's face. "Really! I was just walking by about to train for the contest I'm going to enter in when I heard you berating your pokemon again."

"Oh here we go." Paul sighed slipping a hand through his hair. At least now he knew she wasn't doing any of this on purpose. The fact that she was acting so frazzled meant she really didn't mean to spy on him. She just wanted to provide another example of what a cruel trainer he was. "You know what you can just leave now because I've lost interest in," he paused before waving a hand uselessly in front of him, "whatever it is we're doing here."

"You mean talking?" Dawn asked straight-faced.

"Yeah sure." He replied before turning back towards Chimchar who had seemed to be enjoying the interaction between the two trainers. His amused expression dropped at his trainer's hard gaze.

"We still have a lot of work to do." Paul said stiffly. "When you finish your flame wheel your opponent will be directly behind you. Simply turning to one of your sides isn't going to help especially with long range attacks. You need to land a counterattack immediately after finishing flame wheel which means you'll have to turn around completely. That means you'll have to actually use speed."

Chimchar nodded his head firmly at this despite the spiteful jab near the end. Chimchar got in position to use his flame wheel, waiting for his trainer's command. Paul blinked and turned around staring at Dawn.

"You're still here." He said blankly. She considered him for a moment before glancing at Chimchar. Dawn then gave him a wild look.

"That's you idea of training." She asked as if he was crazy. Paul returned the look except with a nasty glare. Dawn promptly ignored him.

"No wonder you always lose to Ash." She stated shaking her head. Paul looked infuriated.

"I _beat_ Ash every time we battled." He declared knowingly. "I'd never lose to the ranks of him!"

"Ah, I do remember a tie." Dawn pointed out suddenly gleeful as Paul's face darkened while he remembered the incident.

"That was once! And besides- wait! I don't have to explain myself to you of all people. As I remember you're a coordinator, what would you know about battle strategy?"Paul huffed, not liking how frustrated she was making him. And the sly smirk on her face wasn't making him feel better.

"Oh really?" She said crossing her arms with a look that Paul wasn't feeling comfortable around. "Well stand right there mister hot shot and I'll prove you wrong."

Dawn turned towards Chimchar smiling pleasantly. The fire pokemon was utterly confused and glanced at his trainer for advice. But Paul seemed, if not somewhat annoyed, kind of curious as to what Dawn was going to do.

"Now Chimchar, after your finished with your flame attack-"

"Flame Wheel!" Paul called out. Dawn rolled her eyes ignoring him.

"Whatever, after your flame wheel don't turn around." Chimchar looked up questionably but Dawn motioned that she would explain. "Instead of that try jumping up and flip backwards mid-air."

"How's he supposed to dodge attacks mid-air?" Paul asked crossly. Dawn turned to answer him.

"By twirling." She answered happily. Paul gave her a blank look.

"Twirling." He repeated.

"Yeah!"

"You are not going to teach my pokemon freakin contest moves!" he replied heatedly. Dawn pouted before snapping back towards Chimchar who looked bewildered.

"Trust me it works, just try it. Go ahead!" Dawn encouraged very enthusiastic to prove she was right. Chimchar was torn between the bright eyed girl and the enraged Paul. But he did want to try it.

Chimchar focused ahead before igniting the fire around his body. As the flame fully covered him, Chimchar blazed forward before slamming into the boulder. He quickly flipped up until he was upside down. Chimchar twirled forward, diagonally aiming to the ground where he made a gentle landing. The fire-pokemon blinked, unsure if he performed it correctly. He looked up to see indifference on his trainer's face while Dawn was clapping with excitement.

"That was fantastic!" she cried out smiling widely. "Of course everything can get improved over time, but for your first attempt it went really well."

"It looked stupid." Paul mumbled, although in fact the technique could become useful.

"Well it'll look better if you were getting attacked silly. That's how the twirling helps; it allows you to dodge incoming attacks without losing balance. But the real point is that I just proved you wrong." Dawn answered with a dignified tone. She spun around and beamed at him. Paul was taken back before realzing she had just insulted him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked quickly.

"I believe I just taught little Chimchar here a efficent way to dodge and counter attack at the same time." she paused for a moment before grinning at him," Well, more effcient than _your_ method at least."

"Hmm." Paul seemed to have calmed down he stared at her for a second, not unkindly. Dawn, who was expecting a meancing rebutal, stared back stupidly.

"Uh...why are you staring at me?" she asked unsurely hoping to put the pressure off her shoulders. It didn't work though, Paul smirked and cast his gaze back to the river. She blushed wondering what he was getting so much enjoyment out of. He stood up and walked towards Chimchar. He silently took out a pokeball before pointing it down, aiming it at Chimchar. The fire pokemon tilted his head in confusion, training never ended this quickly.

"We'll pick it up tomorrow." Paul said in response to Chimchar's mental question. "Rest up, we'll be working on your speed."

Dawn couldn't help but notice Chimchar's eyes widen a fraction, but the pokemon simply nodded its head. Still, Paul didn't use his cold stotic tone when talking to Chimchar. Strange...he always either returned his pokemon with silent indifference if they performed up to par or with cruel backlash if they didn't. While those comments weren't exactly spirt-rising, they were sort of positive. It was almost like Paul was trying to be nice.

Dawn was snapped out of her trance when she felt Paul's gaze on her again. Even before she met his eyes her cheeks had redened. He just gave her a expresionless stare that was really bugging her. She frowned before pointing at him angrily.

"Look here! You just don't stare at a girl and expect her to be okay with it. If you have something to say, spit it out already. I'm not going to just sit here all night letting you look at me as if I was some sort of-"

"Thanks." he offered quietly.

"Whaa..." she trailed off staring at him incredibly. "Um, sorry...did you just thank me?"

"Yeah." he nodded his head before shoving his hands in his pockets and turning around. He stalked off towards the edge of the forrest not really stopping for a response from Dawn. But she wouldn't let him escape the easy.

"Hey wait!" she shouted, he did turning his head to meet her eyes. She was surprised he actually lisened to her, he was being really different all the sudden.

"Well...I just wanted to say, your welcome." she smilied brightly at him. However it faltered at the emotionless response it left on Paul's face. He turned back ahead but stood still for a moment.

"Next time you see me training by myself, I'd perfer if you'd leave me alone." the coldness had entered his voice again. Her eyes widened at the statement. She could hear the sincerity in his voice and her heart panged from it. Dawn watched him leave wondering why hearing that tone from him hurt so much. Wasn't he being nice two seconds ago. She thought maybe she was getting close to getting through his rough exterior. She'd gotten him to thank her!

Dawn drifted to the ground suddenly feeling lonley and slightly confused. She remembered what she was supposed to be doing here, frustrated she scrunched her skirt under fingers. She'd wasted too much time, it was way too late to expect her pokemon to practice properly now. Dawn sighed looking up at they sky, she was so close.

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Please review!


	4. Welcome to Veilstone

Thank you for the reviews, I really do appreciate it guys! Well go ahead and enjoy!

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Paul slowly trekked down the familiar dirt path in front of him. He wasn't sure how happy he was to be here, at least right now. But it would kind of be nice; at least if everything went according to plan. It irked Paul to admit to anything that resembled emotional attachment especially to something that wasn't real. However, he realized after finally reaching the end of the path and glazing over the building in front of him that there were exceptions to the rule. Paul sighed after being released from that momentary grip of nostalgia and proceeded to open the door.

"R-Renovations?" Ash asked clearly not expecting this. Officer Jenny, after blatantly ignoring Brock's proposals and karate-chopping him to the ground, nodded her head in affirmation.

"This Pokémon Center is having more rooms built in it to accommodate the surplus of trainers coming in." Jenny explained.

"What about all the Pokémon than may need to treatment!" Ash asked worried. Jenny pointed back at the Center.

"The medical facilities of the center are still up and running. Pokémon can still be treated with the same amount of care as usual. It's the extra rooms in the back that are closed so we can add on to them."

"But where are travelers supposed to stay now if it's getting renovated." Dawn asked. She was looking forward to sleeping in a bed, an actual one.

"There are plenty of hotels around the city, but they might be pricy." Jenny replied and then shrugged sympathetically. "I wish there was more I could do, good luck finding a place to stay." And with that the blue-haired police officer left. Ash looked frazzled trying to think of somewhere to stay. Dawn looked excited at the prospect of sleeping in a hotel. And Brock looked heartbroken at the sight of Jenny walking away.

"I would give anything to stay at one of those gorgeous hotel rooms." Dawn sighed breezily. The thought of a soft, plushy bed all to herself seemed liked ecstasy at the moment. Ash rumbled though his pockets and fished out any money he had. He didn't look pleased.

"Too bad we have nothing to give." Ash sighed placing the meager amount of cash left back in his wallet. He frowned and turned towards Brock who seemed to have gotten over his emotional turmoil, "What happened to all that money we had from before!"

"What money?" Brock asked straight-faced.

"Didn't I win a lot of money in that tournament in the last town?" Ash asked. Brock smiled dryly.

"You obviously have no concept of how much 'a lot' of money is." Brock then took out his own wallet which contained about as much as Ash's. "All the money went to food and supplies. Sorry, but it looks like a hotel is out of the question." Dawn pouted at this statement; another night in a sleeping bag was unacceptable.

"Well, well look at who it is!" a cheerful voice rang out. The group of three turned around at once to stare at the source. They all let out a pleasant smile.

"Reggie!" Dawn exclaimed happily. The older boy grinned in response and started walking towards them. He looked the same from the last time they saw him. His dark purple hair was still up in a messy ponytail and he was still wearing the same breeder's apron from before. This time though Reggie was holding two bags in his hand. The group rushed up to greet him.

"I wasn't sure whether it was you guys are not, that is until I saw that Pikachu sitting on your shoulder." Reggie stated to Ash, Pikachu waved enthusiastically at the older boy. "So what are you guys doing here?"

"Uh, we kind of got lost?" Ash said with a tinge of embarrassment. Reggie raised his eyebrows slightly confused.

"You got lost and ended up in Veilstone? Where were you headed?"

"Hearthome." Dawn said blankly sending a side-ways glance to Brock.

"Wow, that's quite a stumble you took." Reggie laughed with Brock adding in nervously. "You guys planning on staying here?"

Dawn nodded, "There is a contest in a couple of days here which is why we were going to Hearthome to begin with."

"Well that's convenient," Reggie started, but then he frowned. "But where will you guys stay, the Pokémon center is closed to travelers right now."

"Yeah, we just heard." Ash replied sadly, "It looks like we'll just camp outside the city for the next couple of days." Dawn visibly shuttered, this was of course observed by Reggie.

"That's silly, I have whole house to myself. You guys can stay with me." Reggie offered kindly. Ash and Dawn gave him an incredible look.

"Really?" Dawn asked and at Reggie's nod she brightened immediately, "Thank you so much Reggie, you have no idea how long I've waited to sleep in a bed!"

"That's kind of you Reggie, but you don't-"Brock was cut off.

"It's fine, I love company and I would hate if my friends were sleeping outside while I was all toasty by myself. " Reggie insisted. Neither Brock not Ash really wanted to argue against that. They in fact accepted eagerly.

"Well then it settled. But you guys will have to wait a bit before you can relax. I have to give these supplies to Maylene."

"Oh that's right Maylene is the gym leader here!" Dawn remembered the young pink-haired girl. Ash smiled also recalling the last time he battled here.

"How's she doing?" Ash asked as the group walked to the gym.

"Great! After that confidence boost you gave her Dawn, she's been battling tough and staying strong through wins and losses." Dawn blushed at the back-handed compliment.

"I just gave her some friendly advice." Dawn mumbled. They all finally reached the gym building. As the group walked through the doors they could hear the echo of some shouting. No one else seemed to be in the gym.

"That must be Maylene; she is probably in the back. Come on." Reggie started walking and everyone else followed looking at all the equipment in slight wonder. Reggie stopped at an arch and pointed through it with a grin. Ash, Brock, and Dawn looked through to see Maylene fighting seriously with her Lucario. The four of them watched in amazement at the display of kicks and punches the pair were dishing out.

"How long do you guys plan on staring at me?" Maylene asked a slight smile on her face as she continued to block Lucario's punches. Everyone blinked in confusion, with only Reggie seeming to understand.

"How did you know we were here?" Ash asked curiously. Maylene suddenly dodged a kick from Lucario and swung her own leg towards him only to be caught. The Pokémon released his master's foot and turned towards the guests. Maylene wiped the sweat off her forehead before turning to Ash.

"Lucario can sense aura remember?" She said as everyone did a collective 'oh'. She giggled. "I knew you guys had come as soon as you entered the city."

"Really?" Brock said impressed, "Lucario that is impressive." The Pokémon shrugged indifferently. Maylene walked towards them smiling warmly.

"I'm really glad you guys came back here, it's nice to see you." She said. "So Ash how's the badge collecting going?" Ash beamed, instantly his badge case was whipped out. He proudly displayed it fingering the empty hole at the bottom.

"Just one more left, that's Sunyshore." Ash said confidently.

"Volkner, huh?" He's a tough one, better be careful Ash. He's the best gym leader in this Region." Maylene warned. Ash didn't seem phased, instead he looked more excited.

"So you guys are just passing through then?"

"They'll be staying for a couple of days so Dawn can participate in the contest here." Reggie explained. Maylene brightened.

"That's great; maybe we can have a rematch then!" Maylene said to Dawn. The blue-haired girl nodded enthusiastically. Ash butted in however.

"I'll have a rematch with you too!" he said eagerly.

"Ash, you already beat her!" Dawn pointed out.

"But Lucario has gotten so much stronger, I'm sure it'll be a great battle!"

"Alright we'll settle all that later, I just came by to drop of these supplies Maylene." Reggie said putting both bags on the floor.

"Thanks Reggie."

"No problem. Oh and," he smiled standing back up, "I'm inviting you for diner. These guys will be at my place for the next couple of days. So why don't we have some fun tonight."

"That's a great idea." Maylene said happily. So after deciding the time and that Brock was definitely going to have to cook, the group headed back to Reggie's house.

"Thanks again for letting us stay!" Dawn said towards Reggie.

"Yeah, thanks!" Ash added.

"No problem guys." They had reached the house, looking just the same as before. Reggie frowned though as the group got closer to the front step. Dawn noticed his concern and questioned him.

"Something wrong Reggie?" she asked. Reggie shook his head and pointed at the window.

"It's nothing, I just was sure I turned off all the lights when I left this morning." He said. Reggie shrugged, not too bothered. "Oh well."

When they reached the doorstep Reggie opened the door with his key. As the door opened fully all four of them blinked in confusion at the Electabuzz greedily digging into a bag of Pokémon food in front of them.

"Uh…"

"PIKA!" Pikachu exclaimed jumping off Ash's shoulder and charging towards the other electric type with a fierce look set on his face. The Electabuzz paused from stuffing other hand full of food down his mouth when he saw Pikachu headed straight towards him. The Pokémon looked puzzled momentarily, he then suddenly snapped and got up. The two Pokémon glared at each other angrily, mashing their heads together in a fierce competition.

"What in the world is going on?" Ash asked bewildered.

"Finally." A gruff voice called out. A very familiar voice all four of them noticed. "I've been waiting for you forever."

Suddenly Paul appeared from around the corner; at first his face had a small smirk. But it vanished completely at the sight of his brother standing next to Ash, Brock, and Dawn. They all stared at each other awkwardly for the next passing seconds. Paul's eyes seemed to widen with each moment. The only sound being emitted was the sparks of anger from the two electric Pokémon who were both being ignored and ignoring what was going.

Paul finally snapped, "What the hell are you people doing here?"

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Finally we reach the part where Paul and Dawn will be forced to be next to each other, isn't this great! I'm sorry if a lot of this chapter seemed unnecessary, especially the whole Maylene thing. I'm debating whether or not she should be important in this story or not, any ideas? So please review, and I've actually written most of the next chapter. That means I can update sooner. Yay!


	5. Little Paulie

See! I told you I'd update fast. Wow, its only been a day since the last update. Don't expect this kind of thing from me, so enjoy it while it lasts. This chapter was super fun to write, read and you'll find out why.

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"I didn't know you were coming Paul!" Reggie exclaimed happily. Paul looked past him staring at Ash, Brock, and Dawn incredibly. He turned back towards Reggie with a dumbfounded expression.

"Do you want me to repeat myself, what are they doing here?" Paul asked harshly. Reggie turned back to his guests who were staring at Paul just as shocked as he was.

"They will be staying for awhile," Reggie said turning back to his brother with a smile, "here as our guests." Paul gave him an exasperated look.

"Seriously?" he asked hoping his brother was kidding, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well you weren't very informative on your part." Reggie crossed his arms and cocked his head, "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

Paul seemed reluctant to answer as his face hardened; he glared towards the 'house guests' shortly before returning his gaze to his brother.

"I wasn't planning on coming, it's just something came up." Paul paused and pondered for a moment, "I need to do some training." Ash seemed to have gotten over the initial shock of seeing Paul as he pushed past Reggie to confront Paul.

"Train for what?" Ash asked curiously, he seemed slightly optimistic at the thought of some sort of competition to participate in. Paul gave him an annoyed look.

"For the League Championships, what else?" Paul replied testily.

"Wait, you have all eight badges?" Ash asked incredibly. Paul didn't answer simply raising his eyebrows as if it were a stupid question. Ash still seemed to be waiting for an answer. Paul placed hand on his head irritably.

"I can't believe I have to stay in the same house as this idiot." He mumbled under his breath.

Suddenly a sparks of electricity started flying everywhere. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the mini-war going on between Electabuzz and Pikachu. The two pokemon seemed about ready to let out a barrage of attacks.

"I knew these two kind of had a rivalry, but I didn't know it was this intense." Reggie commented watching the pair. Paul stared at the electric Pokémon with disinterest. Ash seemed a little worried.

"Ah, come on Pikachu. Don't get into a fight in the middle of a house. Especially the place we'll be staying in for the next couple days." Pikachu ignored him; Ash decided to up the ante. "This is where we'll be getting fed, hear that? Destroy it and we have no food!"

Pikachu turned around slightly concerned at the prospect of no food. Paul seemed to get tired of the whole situation and walked up to Electabuzz.

"You should know better than confront a weakling like that by yourself." Paul commented reaching for his poke ball, "We have training to do later, return."

Ash glared at Paul at his remark about Pikachu. The yellow mouse leaped back on Ash's head silently reminding him that with a simple command Paul could be electrocuted.

"Who are you calling weak?"

"You and your Pokémon." Paul replied simply. Ash was about to contend but Dawn pushed him out of her path looking slightly annoyed with a jaded Brock behind her.

"You two are so predictable." Dawn yawned while Brock nodded his head in agreement. "If you guys don't mind, I was hoping to freshen up." Ash and Paul looked slightly confused as the girl turned towards Reggie expectantly.

"Of course, the bathroom is upstairs two doors to the left." Reggie said.

"Where will we be sleeping, I wanted to drop our things off and then start dinner." Brock asked.

"Yeah, you guys will be sleeping upstairs at the end of the left hallway." Brock and Dawn thanked Reggie and proceeded to walk past the two rivals towards the staircase. Paul watched them go seemingly appalled at the sight of the dweebs in his house. He turned back to his brother.

"Squinty-eyes is cooking?"

"His name is Brock." Ash growled.

"I heard his meals are delicious when made in the middle of the woods." Reggie mentioned, "I can only imagine what he can cook up with an actual kitchen at his disposal.

"I'm not eating anything he makes." Paul said sourly.

"You haven't even tried it!" Ash remarked.

"Don't care."

"Fine then," Reggie shrugged indifferently, "Guess you won't be eating tonight." Ash grinned at the retort and watched Paul scowl angrily.

"Whatever." He turned to leave outside when Reggie called him back.

"How long you plan on staying?" the older sibling asked kindly. Paul thought for a moment, regarding Ash sharply.

"How long are they staying?" he asked carefully.

"Couple of days." Paul's face darkened. He stood silent for a moment thinking before sighing in discontent.

"A week." And with that the boy left to go to the yard. Ash watched him leave before turning to Reggie.

"How do you put up with that awful attitude of his?" Ash asked. Reggie frowned at the question.

"He's my brother." He answered easily before leaving to the next room. Ash pondered his answer for a moment but shook his head. He was an only child after all; he didn't quite understand what it was like to have a sibling.

A few hours later Paul returned into the house after some intense training with his Pokémon. He looked mildly content for once. That was until he heard all the noise in the front of the house. He curiously walked over to discover what was making the entire ruckus. It was the newest guest at his house, Maylene. Ash, Dawn, and Reggie were crowded around Maylene greeting her warmly.

"You invited her too?" Paul said dully looking at Reggie. Maylene tensed up at seeing Paul, memories of their last battle flashing through her head. She blinked rapidly before regaining her senses.

"H-Hi Paul." She nervously said. He gave her a piercing look before turning back towards the dining room where there was a delicious aroma of food. Maylene heaved her shoulders at the purple haired boy's departure. Dawn put a hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

"Hey, he's a jerk to everybody." Dawn stated with a shrug. Maylene let up a small smile.

"Dinner's ready everyone!" Brock called out.

Reggie was right in his assumptions; Brock really went over-board with the cooking. There was everything from soup to roasted chicken. Everything looked scrumptious, and everyone seemed ready to dig in. Paul even stood at a chair eyeing the food content in front of him.

"Thought you weren't going to join us Paul." Ash teased mercilessly. Paul sent him a death glare. The dining table was kind of long with the chairs spread out slightly so they weren't that close together. There were six seats, three on one side and three on the other. As everyone rushed to sit down and grab food to put on their plate Dawn took the end chair. As she sat down she looked straight up to see Paul.

Paul avoided eye contact completely staring hard at his food, this highly annoyed her. But it wasn't surprising, it was Paul after all. She remembered the last thing he said to her the night before. It was so cold-hearted. Dawn knew her perspective of Paul was limited, but she had just taught him something. While she didn't expect the boy to be extraordinarily grateful, she really didn't expect him to thank her either. And then in a flip second he changes back to his icy character. She sighed; this boy was way too confusing. Was it even worth the effort of trying to figure him out?

She sighed grabbing a bowl and pouring some soup for herself, while everything looked delicious Dawn really needed something warm to fill her up. Especially since she was sitting right across from the human ice storm himself.

She glanced up to see him finally lift his eyes from his plate of food. Normally such an elongated moment of silence would drive Dawn crazy, but luckily for her Ash and Reggie's vibrant conversation about their travels sucked in the attention of the placid boy near her. So she listened in as Ash discussed who he thought the toughest gym leader was in Kanto.

As the name Misty rolled off Ash's tongue Paul seemed to lose interest in the conversation and returned his attention back to his dinner plate. That is until he felt someone's gaze on him, he raised his head slowly to catch Dawn staring at him. She squeaked in surprise and immediately dropped her head allowing her hair to shield her reddening cheeks. Of course she forgot she was eating soup and her hair had dipped into her meal.

Dawn looked absolutely aghast as she raised her head, carefully holding her precious locks in her hand as they dripped thick broth on the table. Her hair was ruined! She could hear evil cackling from the other side of the table. The source was obvious, Paul. She glowered at him, but an angry Dawn with soup still in her hair wasn't very intimidating and merely made Paul want to laugh more.

"Shut up!" she growled catching everyone else's attention instantly. All eyes were on Dawn as the conversation came to a halt. Dawn suddenly lost her voice and faltered right before she was about to yell at the purple haired boy. Ash gave her a questioning look.

"Uh…Dawn you have something in your hair." He pointed out unaware to how embarrassed she was becoming as now everyone stared at her hair.

"Thanks Ash." she growled after swiping a napkin from the table and wiping down the liquid from the navy colored curls. Ash, however, wasn't done being an oblivious friend.

"How'd you get soup in your hair?" he asked actually curious. She sent him a glare about to tell him to stop talking if he didn't want to get hurt but Paul unexpectedly interrupted.

"I caught her starring at me, so she got flustered and dunked her hear in the bowl of soup." Paul explained blatantly looking down at his plate and ignoring the horrified look on Dawn's blushing face. Ash, finally getting it, tried keeping his lips pursed as he waited for the ensuing drama to unfold.

"I-I was not starring at you!" Dawn contested roughly standing up. Paul, looking bored, raised his eyes to meet hers.

"Really, then what happened?" he asked.

"I was merely glancing up and happened to look your-"

"Looking and starring is the same thing genius." Paul pointed out. Dawn was about to whack the boy in the head if he didn't get rid of that amused smirk. While Maylene and Ash seemed fascinated, Brock felt like he was getting hit with nostalgia and Reggie seemed to sense the rising tension.

"Alright, you two. It doesn't really matter it was just an accident." Reggie said trying to calm the two teens down, although Paul seemed perfectly calm. Dawn on the other hand huffed and sat back down glaring daggers at the boy.

After dinner the group made their way to the living room. Dawn decided to rinse her hair out not wanting to smell like French onion the whole night. After carefully plunging the soup laden part of hair through the kitchen sink, she rose up looking for a towel.

"Here." A gruff voice called out. She turned around and was caught by surprise as a towel was thrown at her. She looked up and was surprised to see Paul watching her.

"Uh- I…" she hesitated briefly, "thanks?" He rolled his eyes at her astounded look.

"Sorry about getting you so upset." He said frankly a blank look on his face. Dawn stared at him incredibly, yet another example of how utterly confusing this boy was.

"Did Reggie tell you to say that?" Dawn asked skeptic that Paul was trying to be nice. He blinked, as if he just realized something.

"Um, yeah. He did." He didn't sound very convincing though, "But like I said sorry, I really shouldn't take so much amusement at watching you embarrass yourself so easily." Dawn dropped her surprise for annoyance; here was the Paul she knew.

"I mean I said one thing and you went ballistic, whatever." He sighed genuinely seeming uninterested anymore. "You're just lucky that pretty hair of yours didn't get any more damaged from your clumsy antics." He added in dispassionately before leaving the room.

Dawn watched him go, shaking her head in disbelief. Only Paul would be able to manage giving out a compliment and an insult in the same sentence. Talk about complicated. She couldn't help but smile though as she combed her hand through her now dried hair. He thought her hair was pretty.

Before she could join everyone else, Maylene walked in.

"Hey, you okay Dawn?" she asked. Dawn nodded, not feeling nearly as angry from dinner. Maylene smiled pleasantly.

"Well if you're sure. Could you help me pass out these drinks to the boys?" Maylene asked as she picked up the tray of coffee sitting on the counter.

"Yeah, sure." Dawn said and followed the girl into the living room.

Maylene and Dawn both passed out coffee and watched in amusement as Paul tried to make an excuse to leave and Reggie kept thinking of reasons for him to stay. Eventually the grouchy teenager gave in and sat at the end of the sofa scowling at anyone who tried to get near him. As a quaint silence settled in Dawn noticed some video cassettes stored next to the TV.

"Hey Reggie, what are those?" she asked curiously. Paul's eyes widened in horror while Reggie seemed to beam in glee.

"Those are some home videos of when we were kids; you guys want to watch them?" Reggie asked.

"No." Paul replied instantly with a harsh glare directed at his older brother who was unfortunately ignoring him completely and looking for approval from his guests.

"Yes!" Ash called out. He looked utterly delighted at the idea and nodded earnestly. Paul whirled around sending him an I-will-kill-you look in which Ash responded with an I-laugh-at-your-misery look.

Dawn squealed with excitement, "I wanna see Paul as a little baby!" And as Maylene and Brock added in their consent Paul seemed to grow paler and paler.

"Alright then it's settled! And you," Reggie said pointing to Paul who looked about ready to scram, "don't' move." An annoyed look settled in on Paul's face as he slumped down in defeat.

As Reggie slid the cassette in the screen flickered slightly before the image of a 10 year old Reggie appeared. He didn't look much different except his hair was a little shorter, although still in a ponytail. He looked really nervous, and was mumbling underneath his breath. That is until he noticed the camera on him.

"Mom!" he complained feverishly. Laughter filled the room at young Reggie's whining. Reggie cracked a grin, and even Paul was watching intently less annoyed than usual.

"What sweetie, I'm just recording one of the most important days in your life for you. And me, oh I'm so proud of you Reggie!" A soft voice cooed happily. The boy grimaced slightly and started waving his hand underneath his chin frantically indicating for her to stop talking. Obviously she didn't get the clue.

"My little boy is finally growing up. You're going off all on your own; I still can't believe it's been ten years. Oh I'm going to miss you so much!" Reggie blushed deeply embarrassed. Then his eyed flickered up a serious look on his face.

"I'll be back though," he said softly, almost cautiously "just for visits. I mean it's not like I'll miss you. I mean _I will_, but I won't have to-well" he scratched his head trying to think.

"It's just that I don't want you to worry is all." Reggie decided finally, "About me that is." His face was still red but he was smiling up, presumably at his mother.

"Alright that's it." She said. "I need a hug right now!" The camera dropped and an obscured view of the bottom half of Reggie appeared. Suddenly two long legs joined him and Reggie started complaining noisily about the affection he was receiving. The image went blank abruptly.

Suddenly Reggie's image reappeared again, this time he looked kind of excited. He was holding a poke ball in his hand eyeing it with a cheeky grin.

"And you packed the money I gave you." His mom asked.

"Yes." He answered without looking up.

"And the lunch I made."

"Yeah."

"What about your clothes?" Reggie sighed looking up with a slight smile at his mom, he almost looked sad in midst of his excitement.

"And your underwear?" Reggie turned red all emotions except total humiliation flooded out of him.

"Why are we filming this?" Reggie yelled out. Suppressed giggles could be heard by his mother.

All of a sudden in the background you could hear sniffling. The camera shifted sideways and a six year old Paul was standing teary eyed away from the commotion.

"Aw, Paulie what's the matter?" asked their mother in the video. Ash snickered at the nick name earning him an elbow to the head from Dawn.

"Nothing!" the boy cried stubbornly causing the camera to shake lightly with her laughter. Ten year old Reggie smirked at his little brother before rustling his purple locks affectionately.

"I think he's just sad because I'm leaving." Reggie suggested knowingly. Paul growled and swatted his brother's hand away.

"Am not!" he protested while drying his tears against his cheeks. Meanwhile the actual Paul looked split between scrambling away from the area and destroying the TV. Everyone else was too busy watching the video to notice Paul's growing anxiety.

"Well," young Reggie asked raising his eyebrows, "what are you crying about then?"

"I'm not cryin," he meekly said looking down. Reggie sighed and kneeled down to his level. He still had a light smile on his face; Paul raised his head slightly meeting his brother's eyes briefly.

"Alright Paul, what's wrong?" he asked with genuine concern. The six year old eyed the ground nervously before facing his brother with a worried look on his face.

"What if you don't come back to see me?" Paul asked innocently. The room echoed with "awwws" as Paul buried his head wishing to evaporate that very second. Back in the video Reggie was smiling brightly at the little Paul.

"Is that what your worried about, I guess there are such things as dumb questions." He mumbled. Paul scowled.

"Hey!" he objected heatedly.

"Well what kind of question is that?" Reggie replied. "You're my little brother; of course you'll see me again." Paul's eyes seemed to brighten, relief filled his little body.

"After all what'll be the point in collecting all those gym badges if I have no one to show them off to."

The younger boy scoffed, unimpressed. "That's what you think! Just you wait till I'm old enough; I'll probably collect all the badges in the whole world before you." Paul smirked confidently

"We'll see about that." Reggie replied happily, "Don't miss me too much till we see each other again okay bro?"

"Whatever," Paul muttered nonchalantly, "You should worry about more important things, like catching your first Pokémon for starters. They both grinned at each other. Their heartwarming moment was interrupted by their mom who let out of an emotional sob.

"I'd never think I'd see my two boys acting so brotherly to each other much less catch the whole thing on tape." She cried out happily while still sniffling. Reggie and Paul looked appalled.

"Mom!" they both cried out mortified at her statement they rushed towards her, as the image went blank the last thing heard was soft feminine laughing. The video had ended and the room became dead silent. Dawn eyed Paul warily but he was facing the floor unmoving.

It seemed like everyone was hesitant to say anything in fear of Paul's wrath. But then Ash snorted. Paul whipped his head up glowering at him fiercely. Sadly, this only served to edge on Ash's laughter which prompted Dawn to join him. Paul was about to turn on her however it was too late and the entire room erupted into a mass of hysterics. He gritted his teeth as everyone started commenting about how he was such a cute little kid, Paul managed to catch Dawn's eyes. He mouthed four short words to her, _now we are even._

She stopped laughing but still had a sly smile on her face. His expression was harder to figure out, he still looked annoyed but it was kind of different. He got up, ignoring the imploring Reggie's words, and headed towards the stairs.

"I'm going to bed." Paul hissed through his teeth as everyone else continued to giggle unable to stop after watching his enraged expression while leaving. Dawn, however, managed to catch a glimpse of Paul's face before it disappeared upstairs. She blinked wondering if she saw correctly; it looked like he was faintly smiling.

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Yay! I really liked this chapter. Anyway, the plot really starts kicking in the next chapter. That means more Paul/Dawn fluff. Please review!


	6. The Next Morning

Thank you, thank you for all those people who reviewed. Here another update, enjoy!

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Dawn yawned as she rose up from her bed. She noticed the room was empty and decided to take the opportunity to enjoy alone time. She wasn't sleepy anymore but curled up enjoying the silky smoothness of her pajamas. Being on top of a mattress also seemed to boost her mood. Whenever they were traveling and had to camp out, she barely had time to dress much less allow herself to think. Her dreams from the night before would fall down into a blanket of nothingness, forgotten and never to be resuscitated.

But now they were fresh in her mind. She only remembered insignificant things, small clips of a story. All of them combined were incoherent with each other. She didn't want to make sense of it though; it was just nice to remember them. Dawn did, however, remember one part of her dream very specifically. In fact it almost felt like it actually happened. It started with her starring out a window; she remembered wearing pajamas because she felt so comfortable. Dawn was looking at the stars not really paying attention to anything in particular. Just staring and she saw movement below them. That was it really, just stirring somewhere underneath the window. Like someone was moving. Dawn rolled her eyes letting her head drop against crossed arms, how completely random.

Suddenly a warm aroma drifted into the room. _Pancakes_. She thought happily, the idea of Brock serving up all kinds of pancakes with a helping of maple syrup on the side made her gush. She loved staying in a house.

After Dawn had readied herself, she climbed down the stairs to see everyone at the breakfast table. In the middle of them a stack of blueberry, and chocolate pancakes. Ash had already plunged into a large heaping of blueberry pancakes, evident from the stack of violet smeared plates next to him, and was now inhaling a plate of chocolate pancakes. Reggie was eating neatly trying not to stare at Ash. Paul looked extremely tired and was staring blankly at a glass of milk in front of him. As Dawn reached the group Brock and appeared with another serving of pancakes.

"Good Morning Dawn." Brock said pleasantly placing her breakfast in front of her as she sat down. Dawn smiled in return.

"Morning!" Ash said through the food stuffed in his mouth.

"Hope you slept well." Reggie added. Paul ignored her, big surprise.

"I did thanks! I've forgotten how lovely sleeping in a bed is." Dawn replied. She began eating her food delighted once again at Brock's excellent cooking skills.

"Are you sure you don't want anything Paul?" Brock asked seemingly done cooking as he sat down along with everyone else. Paul shook his head weakly. It looked like he didn't get any sleep at all; there were dark bags underneath his eyes.

"You look awful." Dawn added in between bites of blueberry. Paul shot her a look telling her to mind her own business. Reggie sent him a concerned look, but didn't seem inclined to comment. Paul took the opportunity, while everyone was still eating, to leave the table without being berated and go upstairs.

"He didn't even have the energy to even muster up a proper scowl at me." Dawn commented thoughtfully after he was out of hearing distance.

"I hope it's that he didn't get enough sleep." Reggie said, "The last thing we all need is a sick Paul." He grimaced at the thought.

"Why's that?" Brock asked.

"The kid is about as stubborn as a sleeping snorlax. Convincing him that he is actually sick and then getting him to take the medicine is nearly impossible. Not to mention the fact that he considers resting as an overlookable factor of becoming better." Reggie explained with a sigh. Dawn giggled at the thought of little Paul refusing to have a thermometer stuck in his mouth.

"I'm sure you have some great home videos concerning that." Dawn said slyly. Reggie grinned catching her drift.

"You're right, but those are stashed along with Paul's baby years in the blackmail drawer. Never know when those might come in handy." Reggie, Brock, and Dawn laughed together. They were interrupted by a muffled sound coming from Ash. They all stared at him for a few seconds as he struggled to talk. Dawn lost patience quickly.

"Ash, swallow!" she commanded banging on the table. He did and then took a sip of milk to get it all down.

"Ah, much better!" he exclaimed, "As I was saying, it's pretty obvious why Paul is so tired." Everyone gave him confused looks; he was the last person to figure anything out. He stared at him as if the answer was obvious.

"Duh…he was training." Ash clarified. "He's been going outside in the middle of the night in order to train more." Dawn blinked, was it that maybe her dream wasn't actually one.

"You know, I think Ash may be right." Dawn stated as she remembered her dream, "I noticed something going on outside last night. It must have been Paul training."

"Are you sure?" Reggie asked. Ash nodded his head.

"I'm almost positive, I've done it before." Ash said. "Although only when I was close to competing in some big tournament, I don't usually do it. But Paul already had all his badges, and the Sinnoh League Tournament isn't for a couple of months."

"That is strange; I know Paul is really concentrated on getting his Pokémon strong. But he is smart enough to realize you can't just train 24-7." Reggie noted thoughtfully.

"So the question is not only what is Paul training for, but why he has to do it so quickly?" Brock threw the question out. Everyone stared at each other coming up blank.

After breakfast everyone seemed to wander off into their own business. Ash, now thoroughly curious about what Paul was training for, grabbed all his Pokémon and rushed away to do some training of his own. Brock had mumbled something about having to get his Pokémon healed before running off to the Pokémon center. Reggie had breeder duties to take care of. So Dawn basically had the house to herself, expect for wherever Paul was. She suspected he either was taking a shower or had snuck away without anyone noticing.

She smiled, now was the perfect time to think of some appeal moves for her contest in three days. As she grabbed her poke balls she couldn't help but feel a little excited, only one more ribbon left till she could participate in the Grand Festival. Dawn couldn't wait, although she was getting a little ahead of herself. She had to win this next contest first. Dawn already had an idea of which two Pokémon she was going to use. Pachirisu for the appeal round and Buizel for the second round. Now she just had to perfect their moves.

Paul ran a hand threw his damp hair. He sighed wearily zipping up his jacket. He had hoped that taking a shower might waken him up, and while he did feel a little better he was still tired. He glanced over at his poke balls knowing that his Pokémon were still probably worn out and just a little rest in a ball wouldn't get them back at full health. He'd have to make a stop at the Pokémon center.

As he made his way downstairs he figured out no one was at the house, it was too bad he couldn't enjoy the alone time since he had to leave. A large, blue spark of electricity from outside gained his attention. He gazed out the window to see Dawn with her Pachirisu using Spark. It looked prettier then he'd ever seen in a battle, which he supposed was the point. But by contorting the sparks into spirals, which the eleSquirrel Pokémon would proceed to jump through, the current of electricity lost a huge amount of power. _What a waste_ he thought simplistically. He opened the door and walked outside, headed to the center. Dawn noticed him as he walked out but chose to keep quite.

He had always found the point of contests strange. Surprisingly, he didn't absolutely hate them. The appeal round wasn't very exciting in his opinion; after all it seemed kind of easy to make moves look pretty. The second round seemed more interesting. You had to defeat the opponents Pokémon while looking beautiful at the same time. Now that seemed challenging.

Paul blinked turning around, he stared back at nothing in particular. He frowned; it had felt like something was watching him. Like he was being followed, he gave one round about look before proceeding forward. He tried remembering what he was thinking, and was slightly ashamed to recall his interest in the second round. He would never, for the life of him, actually participate in a contest though. Just because something sounds fascinating doesn't mean you should do it. He scowled whipping his head around knowing someone was following him.

Sure enough a frightened Dawn stumbled back at his sudden movement. Paul was slightly surprised to see her. She staggered up with a nervous smile dusting off the dirt on her skirt.

"Well, what a c-coincidence that we were going down the same path." Dawn stuttered rubbing the back of her head. Paul shot her an incredulous look not believing a word. She gave in, knowing there was no way past Paul at this point.

"Eh, alright I was following you." Dawn heaved out, not proud at all of the statement.

"Why do you always seem to be following me?" Paul asked, Dawn didn't look pleased at the question. "Isn't it bad enough I have to sleep in the same house as you, do you have to follow me all around too?"

"I wasn't following you to be with you!" she exclaimed heatedly. "I had to go to the Pokémon center to heal my Pokémon. I don't know where the center is in this city so I followed you."

"How did you know I was going to the center?" Paul asked questionably. Dawn was about to respond but then seemed to realize something and faltered. She thought silently for a few moments. Paul waited patiently a smug look on his face.

"I guess I didn't know." She said softly blushing. She looked up to see Paul smiling; she seemed to forget he was making fun of her at that moment because he had a nice smile. Not his usual scowl or even his evil smirk, just a simple smile. She shook her head slightly after his smile disappeared, replaced with a slim frown. Dawn gave him a stubborn glare.

"Look, I need to go to the center. You need to go to the center, you know where it is. Just take me there and stop being so nick-picky." She said forcefully expecting backlash. He didn't answer but sent her a vacant look. Without another word he turned around and continued walking. Taking that as a confirmation Dawn hurried to catch up with him, a little bit behind him to his side. She glanced at him quickly.

"And just putting this out there but uh," She gulped, "I'm not trying to stalk you, you know? I-It just seems like I am." She quietly said feeling her face heat up. She managed a peak and was amazed to see him smiling again although trying to hide his amusement from her. Dawn suddenly felt cheerier. He was smiling more_, that must be a good sign_ she thought.

The pair made their way to the center in comfortable silence, kind of. Paul seemed to be enjoying it but Dawn's burst of joy at Paul's smile had dulled over and she was becoming bored. But every time she opened her mouth to start a conversation he would send her an icy look daring her to continue. And she would stifle the ensuing giggles and trail behind him. They eventually made their way towards the center. Both of them deposited their Pokémon to the smiling Nurse Joy. She informed them swiftly it would take thirty minutes Dawn thanked her in place of Paul who simply left.

"Brock said he was supposed to be here." Dawn commented looking around outside the center for her tall friend.

"If he was here he would probably be inside pestering Nurse Joy, don't you think?" Paul replied. Dawn wondered why she didn't realize that before.

"I guess you're right." She mumbled impressed at Paul's observation skills. Paul started looking around curiously all the sudden.

"What is it?" Dawn asked. Paul frowned looking directly behind the center.

"I hear something." He muttered before following where he thought the noise was coming from. Dawn chased after him and became aware of the sounds as well. When they got behind the center they could see where the constructions for the renovations were happening. But more importantly there was a crowd in front of the area protesting loudly at an official looking lady. The woman was looking frantically at the group of around ten people in front of her trying to calm them down and failing.

"Oh, I wonder what's going on." Dawn asked out loud. Paul seemed to have lost interest once finding out what the sound was. He shrugged at her comment not really wanting to get involved.

"We should go check it out." She suggested more forward. But Dawn was quick to realize he didn't plan on doing anything and that she was one her own. She huffed placing both her hands on her hips and confronting the obviously upset group of people.

"Ah, excuse me." She said loudly gaining no attention. "Excuse me!" she exclaimed. Everyone didn't seem to notice her; however a girl, who looked a bit older than Dawn, rushed forward visibly displeased.

"Oh sorry," Dawn said sheepishly, "I was just wondering what was going on?"

"I know you, you're Dawn right?" the girl said. Dawn blinked wondering who this stranger was but nodded nonetheless.

"I've seen you in some of your contests. You're probably here for the contest right?" the girl offered quickly. Dawn smiled while nodding her head.

"That's right; I only need one more ribbon left in order to get five." Dawn said proudly. The girl gave her a sad look.

"I'm sorry to say this, but the contest in this town has been cancelled."

* * *

Okay not much of a cliffhanger, but that's okay. So if I get enough reviews I might reward all of you with a update tomorrow, hopefully. I'm almost done with it. But I do have a question to ask all my readers. In the next coming chapters there will be some Pokémon battles and other such things. I can either make these battle short or long, if you have a preference please put it in your review. Thanks guys!


	7. A Solution

Thanks again to all those who reviewed, here is the next chapter!

* * *

Paul frowned as he saw Dawn's face pale, obviously upset about something. She started talking frantically to the crowd. He wondered what could have caused the usually optimistic girl to get so upset all the sudden. The lady wearing the official looking outfit was trying to explain something to Dawn who wasn't taking the news very well. The crowd got impatient and started protesting. Paul was about to go to where the commotion was but suddenly got bumped by someone. Officer Jenny ran passed him straight towards the crowd trying to break up the commotion. Paul took the opportunity to go and talk to the slightly angry Dawn.

"Hey," he said gaining her attention as she turned to him a clash of anger and gloom stormed in her eyes. He was taken aback for a moment but then asked, "What happened?"

"The contest had been cancelled!" she cried outraged. Paul didn't deem this all that important but kept that thought to him, he glanced back over to where the commotion was taking place. He noticed that most of the people had slinked off to the side due to Officer Jenny's subtle suggestions. Not really feeling up to trying to talk or calm an angry Dawn, Paul headed over to Jenny.

"Excuse me ma'am." He interrupted the conversation the two ladies were having. " I was just wondering what exactly was happening?"

"Well, will you not yell at me incoherently if I tell you?" the frazzled looking lady asked. Paul shook his head in confirmation.

"My name is Kelly Brooks and I work in the Sinnoh league. My main job is to overlook the placement of contests in certain cities." The woman explained.

"So you are the one who cancelled the contest here?" Paul questioned. The woman sighed apparently she had been through this situation before.

"Well, yes but you must realize that I didn't cancel this contest just to be mean." Ms. Brooks clarified. "There doesn't appear to be enough contestants participating in this particular contest for it to run efficiently and adhere to league rules." Dawn had overheard this and came marching over.

"Do you not see all these people standing right here?" Dawn exclaimed pointing wildly at the crowd who suddenly gained enthusiasm at Dawn's question. The women gave Dawn a pleading look.

"I'm afraid there are only ten people registered as participants. Twelve if you include yourself and this gentleman." Ms. Brooks said. Paul looked irate at being considered a coordinator. "There is a strict rule that there must be twenty people in a contest."

"How do you know more people won't come?" Dawn countered.

"Most coordinators are either in Hearthome right now, or have finished collecting their ribbons. The registration ends tonight; I doubt enough people will make it in time."

Dawn couldn't believe this was happening. She wasn't going to be able to enter a contest because there weren't enough people. Of all the things to happen, Dawn wanted to whine. She wanted to complain to someone but she knew that nothing would come of it. She watched as the other disappointed coordinators dissipated angrily. Jenny was talking to Ms. Brooks.

She sighed and turned off to go and collect her Pokémon. Paul was watching her warily waiting for the girl to explode in rage. As she reached the reception desk she noticed the sign-up sheet for the contest. She stared miserably at it wondering if someone was mocking her. Dawn thought about how it would now be impossible to get her fifth ribbon. The registration for the contests in Hearthome had ended. Any other contests were too far away, she'd never make it time. Nurse Joy suddenly appeared with a tray of twelve poke balls in front of a dull girl and a placid boy.

Dawn disillusioned and with her head down, accidently grabbed Paul's Pokémon instead of hers. She then went back through the door leaving a confused Paul talking to Nurse Joy who complemented him on 'his' buneary's well groomed fur. He eventually caught up with her and informed her of her mistake. After fixing the mix up the pair solemnly made their way back to the house.

Paul glanced over at Dawn; it was weird seeing her so depressed. He never thought that there would be anything worse that an annoyingly optimistic Dawn, but this gloomy one was getting on his nerves just as much. He actually expected her to continue ranting on about how unfair life was, so seeing this behavior was a little strange.

When they finally reached the house Paul considered going inside but instantly dismissed the idea. He had to concentrate on training, and with that he left to the yard. Dawn didn't seem to notice Paul had trailed off and proceeded to enter the house. Without thinking she walked to the breakfast table and collapsed into the first chair she saw. She didn't observe who was in the room and simply wallowed in her sadness.

Ash, however, was sitting across from her wondering why she seemed so dismal. He had been drinking a glass of lemonade, taking a break from the training he just finished. Pikachu was also enjoying a rest while sucking on a bottle of ketchup happily ignoring his traveling companions. Dawn didn't more for five minutes and Ash was beginning to worry. Brock suddenly entered with a large pitcher of lemonade placing and sat down frowning at the younger girl. He turned to Ash pointing over at Dawn.

"What's up with her?" he asked. Ash shrugged in response before chugging the rest of his drink and facing the upset girl.

"Hey Dawn!" he shouted. She gave a muffled response but didn't seem to want to move. "What's wrong, why are you so sad?" Ash continued to shout the questions. Brock rolled his eyes at Ash's lame attempt at questioning.

"Dawn you just can't walk in here all distressed and not tell us what is going on?" Brock said gently.

"Yeah!" Ash added unnecessarily. Brock shot him a look saying he'd handle this. Dawn raised her head looking despondent. She sniffed slightly propping her drooping head with her palm.

"The contest has been cancelled." She stated softly. Brock and Ash looked surprised at this information sitting up immediately. They gave each other puzzled looks before questioning her again.

"Why?" Ash said. Dawn stared hard at the table suddenly feeling mad at the pathetic reason.

"There aren't enough competitors." She spat venomously. "There are only eleven people competing including me. There has to be twenty."

Brock blinked not expecting such a weird twist. He now understood why Dawn was so sad; this was her last chance to get a fifth ribbon. This contest was her last chance to get into the Grand Festival. He felt bad for her, he could have no idea how she was feeling.

"I could be a competitor." Ash said bluntly. Dawn and Brock both looked at him.

"What are you talking about?" Brock asked.

"I could compete in the contest, to increase the number of contestants." He stated simply not realizing how easily he had solved Dawn's problem. Her eyes lit up with hope, all she needed to do was get more people to join. She turned to Brock keenly.

"Uh, yeah I'll join too." He said making her smile happily.

"Great! I just need to get seven more people to join and my problem is solved!" Dawn exclaimed brightly, "Ash you're a genius!"

Ash cocked his head not familiar with being called such a thing. Dawn jumped up from her seat about to walk out the door before faltering. She turned around with a baffled look on her face.

"…I don't know anyone in this town." Ash smirked at Dawn's ignorance due to her burst of excitement.

"I think that's what Reggie's for." Brock pointed out reliving Dawn immensely. When Reggie eventually did come home, which Dawn thought took way too long, he seemed more than happy to enter a contest. And with some eager suggestions he managed to convince four of his other friends to join in as well.

Dawn looked up hopefully at the sound of Reggie putting down the phone. He re-entered the living room with a smile on his face. Dawn smiled in return.

"So, she said yes?" Dawn asked already knowing the answer.

"Yeah, Maylene said she'd love to participate in the contest. Now that's five more people. How many more do you need?" Reggie asked. Dawn counted down putting down a finger until only one was still up.

"I guess we only need one more person." Dawn said looking up at the others. Reggie rubbed the back of his head guilt-ridden.

"I'm sorry Dawn, but I can't ask any of my other friends." Reggie apologized meekly, "Most of them don't live here. Sorry!" Dawn shook her head firmly.

"You've done way too much for me, thanks." Dawn thought for a moment before adding; "Besides it shouldn't be that hard to find one other person, right?" They all stared blankly at each other.

Paul felt sore; training wasn't just for his Pokémon. It would do no good to advocate for power if he'd be sitting on the sidelines like a weakling. He really just wanted to get something to eat and then catch a bit of sleep before his night round. He walked into the house rubbing his shoulder with a grimace. He then noticed Dawn, Brock, and Reggie smiling brightly at him. He got scared.

His eyes narrowed and he observed their pleasant looks with cynicism. They were way too happy. Especially Dawn who seemed the most joyful, which didn't make sense. Last time he checked she was a depressed mob conflicting between self-pity and fury. And here she was smiling, at him.

"What?" he hissed making it clear he was not in the mood to be bothered. Brock flinched slightly, but Dawn seemed too happy and the harshness of his short and sharp question breezed by her. Reggie was too used to this tone to give it a second thought.

"Well, I'm sure you heard about my situation." Dawn started. Paul glared at her, both of them knew he was right there the whole time.

"Yes." He responded.

"Well, and you'll never believe it, there is a way to solve the problem." Dawn stated bouncing up. Paul suddenly had a feeling of what was going on.

"What does that have to do with me?" he asked coldly. Dawn ignored him for a moment continuing with her explanation.

"You see, we were able to get four other people to join in the contest by asking around town. Brock, Ash, Maylene, and Reggie also volunteered to join."

"I'm so happy for you." Paul replied sarcastically.

"But we still need one more person in order to get twenty." Dawn said mocking sadness, she pouted and sent him an earnest look. Paul couldn't have cared in the slightest.

"I am not entering in a Pokémon contest!" he fired out. He then turned to Reggie before he could speak up, "You can't make me!"

Reggie and Brock both nervously laughed at that sentiment. Dawn giggled, and fear coursed through Paul's body.

"What happened?" he demanded angrily glaring at the trio before him. They all eyed each other before Reggie decided to step up with a response. He coughed in his hand deliberately to further annoy his younger brother.

"You see Paul; we knew you'd feel this way. You could call it brother's intuition." Reggie smiled at the glower forming on Paul's face. "But this last contest is the only way poor Dawn can get into the Grand Festival. And we needed one more person to enter in order for it to go on. Despite your initial reluctance to enter, I'm positive you'll change your mind with enough time."

"You're wrong." Paul informed him through gritted teeth.

"The problem is there just isn't enough time. The registration ends tonight, actually in about thirty minutes. It would be quite difficult convincing someone with your stubbornness to change his mind in such a short period of time. So we signed you up for the contest ourselves." Reggie finished. Paul's eyes widened taking in the new information with shock.

"Y-You what?"

* * *

There problem solved! Although at Paul's expense, but we all _know_ he has always wanted to be a coordinator, right? Oh well, I hope you liked this chapter. Please drop off a review!


	8. Shopping

Here, here here! Another update, enjoy!

* * *

"No, No, No! This simply will not do!" Dawn cried out staring at the outfits laid out in front of her with dissatisfaction. Maylene watched on with a frown as Dawn picked up her sleek black training tank with her two fingers and held it up in front of herself in disgust.

"This is not what I mean when I said formal wear Maylene." Dawn swiftly informed the girl swinging the tank on the bed uselessly. "You don't own anything other than sweats and training uniforms?" Maylene sheepishly rubbed her head a small smile on her lips. Dawn sighed holding her head in her hands.

"Well, come on Dawn did you really expect me to have something fancy." Maylene asked. Dawn gave her a piercing look.

"I assumed you had a social life outside of training, excuse my lapse of judgment." Dawn sighed, although disappointed there was a bright side to this. And she was more than willing to submit to plan B. But she would have to check with the boys to see if they had gathered a decent looking formal outfit.

Paul opened his closet and stared at its contents blankly. It was mostly empty except for a few hangers that had clothes that were too small for him. But no formal wear. Paul wanted nothing more than to run the hell out of this house, far away and never even think of looking back. He had no choice however. He needed Reggie's help. And while his older brother was always willing to help him, Reggie was willing to help everyone. Including certain annoying free loaders he knew.

And because Reggie had to help the dweebs, he had to help the dweebs. It aggravated him to no end; he was going to be in a contest. His pride had sunk to lowest degree possible. A flipping contest! Paul tried reminding himself it was worth it. In the end it would be worth it, _just one more week _he thought gravely. He closed his eyes trying to concentrate. But he could hear noisy complaints from Dawn. He supposed in way he was doing this contest for her to. She got louder till Paul was fully pestered enough to find out what was going on. He opened the door to just as Dawn came out of her room with Ash trailing behind her with a less than lackadaisical attitude. It seemed everyone had gravitated to the hallway in the process as everyone stared at a ticked off Dawn.

"Do any of you guys have proper outfits for the contest that's in two days?" Dawn asked her patience growing thin. She then whipped around before Ash, who was about to say something, could open his mouth. "I swear I will beat you to death if you mention your formal baseball cap again!" The raven haired boy promptly shut his mouth. Dawn rolled his eyes and turned back to the rest of the group, she stared in shock at Brock.

"…wah?" she managed to let out. The older boy had suddenly whipped out a slick, black tuxedo. The white vest was also present with a bright red tie hanging around the collar. It was completely ironed out and ready to go. It even had a fresh red rose pinned to the chest. Dawn shook her head after being stunned momentarily, she beamed at him.

"Oh Brock, that is lovely. It's perfect for a contest." She paused briefly taking it in for a few seconds, "but why is it so, uh, ready? Like you are about to go out right now."

"I always have this suit prim and proper. I wash it every chance I get and without delay get it ironed out. I also pluck a fresh rose to pin on it when the previous one withers." He explained with pride. Paul and Ash sent him bizarre out looks. Reggie and Maylene tried to seem polite and nodded on with a smile. Dawn looked a bit freaked out.

"Uh…why?" she asked almost afraid of the answer. He blinked as if the question were silly.

"Why just in case I might have a date of course. I like to be prepared ahead of time." Brock answered. Paul rolled his eyes while everyone else gave him nervous smiles. Ash, however, seemed innately curious.

"Have you ever worn it before?" Ash asked straight out. Everyone directed their gaze to a blushing Brock, Paul snorted with laughter.

"Yes!" Brock insisted. Although everyone could tell he was lying. Before he could be questioned anymore about his personal life Brock stormed back into his room. Dawn watched him leave and waited for the door to slam before turning to everyone else.

"Do you guys have anything to wear?" she asked. Reggie nodded his head, as expected. Dawn was satisfied that Reggie would look fine in whatever he picked to wear. He wasn't who she was worried about. It was the other three. She turned to Paul, knowing first hand that Ash and Maylene had nothing to offer. He sent her a look basically saying _what do you expect?_

"None of you have anything!" she exclaimed, she half-expected Paul to have something. Reggie frowned touching his chin has he tried to remember something.

"Paul don't you have something in the closet right over there, I thought I remembered seeing something?" Reggie said pointing to the closet at the end of the hallway. Paul blinked turning to it. It wouldn't hurt to check. He was sadly mistaken.

As he walked to the closet to see Dawn tagged along with him. He opened the door and the pair stared at the tiny black tap dance suit hanging neatly in front of them. Paul twitched violently. He had officially lost all his man pride as he could hear distinct snickering behind him.

"You tap danced." She giggled.

"Shut up!" he shouted slamming the door shut. He turned around to his brother who was smiling pleasantly. "Anymore suggestions?" he hissed.

"No, I'm done for the day." Reggie uneasily said. "Have fun shopping!"

"What?" Paul asked in horror. Dawn clapped her hands enthusiastically.

"That's a wonderful idea!" she exclaimed. "All four of us should go shopping."

"Oh merciful Arecus no!" Ash cried out.

"Sweats are very stylish Dawn; I swear I don't need anything!" Maylene insisted pleadingly. Dawn shook her head firmly.

"All of you need something decent to wear in two days, and we are going shopping." Dawn informed them officially. She then suddenly went in a dream-like state. "I've always wanted to shop here in Veilstone. Oh my gosh I'm so excited!"

Ash and Maylene gave each other dreary looks before trudging downstairs downcast. Dawn raced after them rapidly informing them of all the fun activities they could do at the mall. Paul, after getting over his initial shock, glared daggers at his older brother who looked genuinely sorry.

"You couldn't have kept quiet for two more seconds?" Paul growled.

"I just assumed you'd guys would go shopping, you can't blame me." Reggie stated.

"I do." Paul simply replied. He turned to leave downstairs until Reggie stopped him.

"Thanks Paul, I know you despise me right now." Reggie started, "but I appreciate it and so does Dawn and the others. So thanks for doing all this." Paul kept quiet for a few moments thinking.

"You like making other people happy." Paul said softly, he shrugged passively. "I don't get it; I don't think I ever will. But it doesn't matter. I'm helping you do something you want, and you're helping me." Reggie grinned at his little brother happily.

"Although," he added with a bit of annoyance, "you seem to be enjoying helping me a hundred times better than I am helping you."

"Oh really? You know entering a contest is like being a performer. I thought you always wanted to be a one. Well at least that's the impression I got from the whole tap dancing thing." Reggie laughed. Paul rolled his eyes, trying to scowl might have worked against him because he might have smiled instead.

"Remind me again what I'm helping you with?" Reggie asked casually. Paul immediately froze his face hardening.

"It's what it is, training." Paul muttered. "Just getting my Pokémon stronger."

"Right, sure." Reggie sighed before rubbing his eyes with a tired expression. He finally rose to meet Paul's eyes his expression stern.

"You can try putting up a barrier to hide yourself behind Paul." Reggie said, he then furrowed his eyebrows seriously. "I can see right through you. I don't know what's going on, but whatever it is I hope you know what you're doing." And with that Reggie left his brother standing on the staircase with a shocked face. _Did he know what had happened?_

Paul, still shaken from his conversation with Reggie, came down the stairs to meet with the rest of the group ready to leave. Some less willing than others, Ash already looked bored out of his mind while Maylene seemed to still be convincing Dawn to get out of their shopping trip. Unfortunately for the three trainers Dawn was standing her ground firmly.

"Took you long enough." Dawn shot at Paul as he finally reached them.

"You are lucky I'm even here." He answered back coldly. "Let's just get this over with."

Dawn twirled around in the neon orange dress staring at the mirror with a scrunched up nose. Maylene looked about ready to fall asleep watching from the bench right next to the mirror. When the four had reached the Veilstone Mall Dawn had ordered the boys to _try_ searching for something by themselves. She then grabbed a protesting Maylene and headed for the dress section. Before she could think, however, a bundle of dresses caught her eye and she wanted to try them on. All of them.

"I don't know Maylene." Dawn said not noticing her friend wasn't paying the least bit of attention, "I don't think orange is your color. What do you think?"

"Looks good." Maylene responded monotone. Dawn frowned and snapped around.

"You've said that for the past three dresses!" Dawn cried out, "and I have eight more left!" Maylene dropped her head in agony at the statement.

"I'm trying on these dresses for you since you refuse to wear them!" Dawn prodded.

"It's only been ten minutes." Maylene moaned to no one in particular. Dawn shook her dead in dismay.

"You are worse than boys." She paused, "Almost. Oh, look at that one!" And with that the blue-haired girl snuck off to retrieve another dress that Maylene noticed with a snarl was exactly the same as the one she was wearing except in a different color. The pink haired girl slumped in her seat having a feeling this was going to be a long day.

"No." Paul said glaring at the sales clerk shoving the suit back in his arms. The man flinched at the bitter tone of his voice and went to go get another outfit. Ash watched the man go before turning to Paul.

"What was wrong with that one?" Ash asked.

"It had cuffs, I don't want cuffs." He said. Paul then eyed Ash sharply. "Don't you dare ask me what a cuff is."

"Fine then." Ash mumbled. The raven haired boy groaned before plunging his head into his palms.

"Agh, we have to find something to wear so we can get out of here fast!" Ash shouted ignoring the other patron's glares. Paul couldn't help but agree. He was half tempted to grab something randomly and just buy it so he could leave. But he knew better.

"We have to get something that will satisfy Dawn or else we will be stuck here forever." Paul explained while observing a row of suits. "She will know if we just got something at random. The last thing I need is her yelling at me about a stupid outfit." Ash begrudgingly agreed and tried to look at more clothes but didn't seem to be getting much accomplished.

"I haven't even begun to think about a strategy for the contest." Ash complained filing through rows of dress pants, "And it's only two days away."

"Are you serious?" Paul asked incredibly staring at him. Ash turned to his rival confused.

"Serious about what?"

"You are actually going to try at the contest?" Paul questioned legitimately stunned. Ash didn't seem to understand why this news was so shocking.

"Uh…yes?" he answered unsure. "I mean it's a competition. I always want to win competitions. So I always try my best. Aren't you going for the win?"

"No!" Paul uttered dismissively, "It's a stupid contest. What's the point in trying?" Ash stared at Paul for a second before cracking a grin that the purple haired boy couldn't help but notice. Ash continued smiling as he returned his attention to the rack of clothes in front of him.

"And what is so amusing?" Paul asked cynically.

"Nothing, it's just I should have expected something like this from you." Ash simply stated leaving Paul more annoyed.

"What does that mean?"

"Look Paul, you don't like doing things out of your comfort zone. If it doesn't involve Pokémon battles it's considered lame to you because you are afraid of messing up and looking weak." Ash thought for a moment before adding, "And I also think you're afraid of facing me in the appeal round."

"What?" Paul cried outraged at the mere idea. "I could beat you any day, any time, and anywhere. That includes a dumb Pokémon contest."

"Then I hope you are thinking of a good strategy for the appeal round if you want to face me in a battle." Ash grinned as he lit a fire in Paul to now win. Ash knew Paul was disinterested in the contest and was planning on dropping out after the first round. In the whole scheme of things, Ash decided that facing Paul in a contest would be just as conclusive as facing him in battle. This was a perfect opportunity for that, so Ash knew he had to get Paul to be interested. He just hoped he would face Paul first so he could get a win over his arch rival and still let Dawn win her contest.

Paul frowned he couldn't believe he was being goaded into trying in the contest, and it was working. He would absolutely not lose to Ash Ketchum no matter what the circumstances. Even though it was embarrassing enough to be in a contest, it would be ten times worse if he lost in the first round while Ash got through. No, he had to at least get further in the competition than Ash. That meant thinking of an actual strategy. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this; he had to think of ways for his Pokémon to look pretty. He shuttered in revulsion.

Paul suddenly grabbed a sale clerk who yelped in surprise. The purple haired boy rattled off his size and Ash's size before pushing him off to find a suitable outfit for them. After waiting an unbearable five minutes, the boys had received their outfits and without so much as a glance at them rushed to the check out desk.

"Maybe we should return this." Maylene said shyly looking at the bag in her hands. After much persuading Dawn had managed to get Maylene to try one dress, and it was the perfect one. "I don't know if it's really me."

"Look, your just being all unsure now because we're out of the store and the dress is bought." Dawn sated matter of fact. "I saw your face when you looked in the mirror with the dress on. You looked so happy." Dawn nudged the girl who blushed profusely.

"I guess." She admitted before turning to Dawn quickly and hopefully.

"We're leaving right?" the pink-haired girl asked. Dawn laughed lightly.

"No," she said dashing Maylene's desire. "I have to make sure the guys pick up something half-way decent. Those two probably don't know good taste if it hit them in the-"

Dawn trailed off as she stared in awe at something in front of her. Maylene looked at her confused, before following Dawn's gaze to a dress on a rack in a new store. Dawn was staring at the dress with wide eyes, only seconds later did she realize she spaced off.

"Oh, sorry!" she said quickly. She shook her head, "Let's go get those guys, before they make a dash for the exit." Maylene gave her a curious look.

"Wait Dawn, if you want to get something you should." Maylene said but Dawn shook her head.

"No, its fine. I have a dress unlike you three. I don't need one." Dawn insisted. Maylene smirked at the girl.

"I saw your face when you looked at it." Maylene started giving Dawn a knowing look. Dawn blushed lightly. Maylene led the pair towards the store reminding Dawn not so subtly that she was only allowed to try on one dress until they left.

"Yeah, well you didn't have to yell at the poor guy." Ash pointed out to a scowling Paul. After buying the suits Ash and Paul had tried desperately searching for the girls in order to leave. They were contemplating leaving by themselves when a man mistakenly picked up Paul's expensive suit.

"Just drop it okay, now where the heck are those two?" Paul asked scornfully. Ash shrugged being about as useful as he always was when it came to where things are.

"Finally we've been searching for you guys all over." A familiar voice cried out. Ash and Paul whipped around to see Dawn waving at them with Maylene at her side. Both of them were caring bags. Ash could have yelled in delight, this meant they could go home. Paul was silently cheering to himself.

"Alright, let's go!" Ash shouted as the group re-united.

"Let me see your outfits." Dawn demanded holding out her hands. But Paul and Ash agreed beforehand to refuse such a notion. They both shook their heads insisting it to be a surprise for the big day. Dawn seemed happy enough with that answer. She then turned to go further in the mall.

"Wow, where are you going?" Ash said pulling her back, "Certainly not back into the mall where you'll continue shopping. You know, because we should be heading home now."

"Silly Ash," Dawn smiled patting the boy on his baseball wearing head, "We finished clothes shopping; now it's time for item shopping. Yay!"

"What does that even mean?" Maylene asked eyes widened in terror.

"I think I just saw Miss Prissy's Pretty Pink Bows!" Dawn squealed with excitement.

"Kill me now." Paul groaned.

"I second that notion." Ash added dully. Paul glared at him and Ash realized his awkward phrasing of words.

"I meant like kill me too- ah forget it. I don't care anymore." Ash silently made a motion to both Maylene and Paul who seemed to understand what he was planning.

"That would ruin half the fun of coming here guys!" Dawn grinned and then turned around to see no one behind her.

"Guys? …I guess they left, oh well. More shopping for me!" Delighted at a whole day of shopping to herself Dawn merrily entered the first store she saw, not giving a second thought of anything else.

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Okay so obviously nothing vitally important happened in this chapter, but you guys seem to love seeing Paul in weird situations. So why not throw him in a mall, with Dawn. Hoped you liked it, next chapter the contest starts! Please Review!


	9. Appeal Round

The Contest is Here! Yay, here go read this.

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Dawn's eyes were sparkling as she saw the contest hall in front of her. She turned around her navy hair swinging wildly with her to face the rest of the group.

"Look guys, its right over there!" she cried out happily. Most everyone smiled in response just as excited as she was. Most everybody, Paul wasn't looking forward to having to dress up and prance around with his Pokémon on stage for a whole five minutes. But after that the battle round might prove to be interesting. The group finally made it in the building and squeezed through the large gathering of people who came to watch.

Maylene and Brock went to go change into their outfits. Ash stared sadly at the cap in front of him as if memorizing its every essence. Dawn snatched it quickly from his hand and gave him a knowing look. She instead handed him the bag which contained his suit. He sighed and took the suit away as he stepped into the dressing room. Dawn rolled her eyes, stuffing Ash's hat into her bag.

She watched as Reggie shoved Paul into a dressing room, threw his bag at him, and left to go change as well. Satisfied that everyone else was getting ready Dawn grabbed her new dress and got into the nearest changing room. She pulled out the outfit and stared at it for a few moments. She had been wearing the same dress for the past four contests. This would be the first time wearing this one. Trying something new wouldn't hurt.

Ash stepped out of his room tugging at his collar as if it was choking him. Brock followed him shaking his head slightly. The older boy was in his pristine black tuxedo.

"Ash, I'm telling you that's how the collar is supposed to be." Brock explained.

"It's way too tight, how can you breathe in this thing?" Ash grunted continuing to jerk at the collar. He was wearing a navy blazer with a dark grey vest and a matching pant suit. The tie he was messing with was stripped black and silver. Even Ash's hair looked less unkempt that usual, he had managed to evenly flatten it best he could.

"You know nothing about social etiquette do you?" Brock said with a sly smile. Ash glared at him.

"That's the first time you wore that suit isn't it?" Ash retorted crossly. Brock's smile disappeared while Ash had one of his own plastered on. Reggie soon joined them wearing a tuxedo similar to Brock's but for some reason the purple haired boy managed to make it work better.

"Well you guys look good." Reggie commented stepping towards them. Brock gave him a sullen look and shoved his hands in his pocket. Ash nudged Brock.

"Thanks, you too Reggie. So did you actually prepare for today?" the raven haired boy asked.

"Kind of," Reggie shrugged, "It's going to be mostly improve though since I haven't really had time to prepare anything."

"Breeder duties?" Brock asked. Reggie shook his head a thoughtful look on his face.

"I've been helping Paul train with his Pokémon." He answered. "He's been pushing them really hard."

"Tell me something that's new." Ash mumbled annoyed.

"Look, I know he has always been harsh with his training methods. But this time it's different. Usually when he asks me to train with them it's just general stuff. Lately he has been really specific with what he wants his Pokémon to accomplish. I don't know." Reggie muttered somewhat frustrated, "It just isn't like him at all."

"You think something is up?" Ash asked raising his eyebrows. Reggie shrugged unsure.

"I have no idea. But, keep an eye on him while you guys are still here and if you see him while traveling. I don't know what's going on but whatever it is its coming up pretty soon."

"No problem, I'm kind of curious of what's happening myself." Brock said. The three boys paused in their conversation as a grumbling Maylene walked in. All of the boy's eyes widened. She was wearing a lilac dress that had spaghetti straps and was ruffled at the top before flowing down right above her knees. Underneath the ruffles near the chest area was a white ribbon tied neatly around the back. A matching white flower was tucked behind her ear. The pink haired girl was pulling at the ribbon around her dress trying to tie it. As she finally managed to do so Maylene looked up at the three boys who were staring at her. She blushed at the attention.

"What?" she managed to let out. They all shook their heads ending their daze at seeing the young girl in the dress.

"Nothing, you look lovely Maylene." Reggie said smoothly.

"Yeah, the dress is pretty. You look nice in it." Ash added. Brock shook his head in agreement.

"Maylene you look great." The older boy said. Maylene smiled at the compliments looking meekly at the mirror to her side.

"Thanks guys. I appreciate it," Maylene frowned and looked around, "Hey where are Paul and Dawn?" Everyone looked around expectantly but there was no sign of the pair.

"They are taking a while; they should be announcing the order of contestants in a few minutes." Reggie said taking a quick glance at his watch. "We should head back to the lobby now."

"Ah, let's go ahead. Dawn knows what to do in contests." Ash said eagerly.

"What about Paul?" Brock asked. Ash stared blankly at him not considering that part.

"Oh," he waved his hand dismissively, "I'm sure he can figure it out. Let's go guys." And with that the four friends left to the lobby.

Paul slipped on the jacket of suit lost deep in thought. While looking up in the mirror he remembered he was about to compete in the dumbest competition of his life. He scowled miserably at himself. He would attempt to try in the contest but if he didn't battle against Ash the whole point of "trying" would be useless. Although maybe facing his brother would be interesting, maybe even Maylene. She seemed to have gotten stronger, or at least her Lucario did.

Paul was glanced over at the two poke balls left out on the table beside him. One contained his ever loyal Torterra, and the other Chimchar. He wasn't too certain about his second choice of Pokémon but he thought that it was the right thing to do, especially since what was going to happen in five days. He frowned at the thought but tried to shake his head. _Now isn't the time to think about that_ Paul thought, _I guess I should try enjoying myself today_. He couldn't believe he just though that. Paul grabbed the two poke balls and tucked them in his pocket before stepping out.

Dawn gave her hair one final brush before quickly tying it up in a stylish ponytail. She clipped up her bangs and gave her hair a quick glance in the mirror. She couldn't help but smile. She was now completely ready; Dawn straightened out her dress and slipped on her shoes. She grabbed her two poke balls and kissed each one lightly.

"Good luck guys." She muttered softly. Dawn closed her eyes taking in the moment. She had to win this competition. This is what she had always wanted to do, be able to compete. And winning this meant a spot in the greatest competition ever. Dawn wasn't sure whether to be excited or nervous; both of the feelings mixed and formed butterflies in her stomach. She simply couldn't contain herself anymore. With a bright smile she leaped out the door.

Both Paul and Dawn froze as they saw the other appear.

Dawn's mouth went agape at the sight of the purple haired boy. He was wearing a kind of shiny grey suit that somehow matched his odd hair color well. The jacket wasn't buttoned and showed off a white shirt on the inside with an open collar. Dawn couldn't think of a time when he wasn't in his usual sweats. He looked handsome and Dawn couldn't help the blush forming on her face.

Paul was using every bit of his energy to not express any sort of emotion on his face. The one going through his mind was utter shock. Dawn wasn't wearing her usual pink dress that he was expecting. She had on a very simple white dress with light floral imprints on the bottom section. The dress had a halter top and a light, sand colored ribbon wrapping around Dawn's waist. Her hair had been swept up in a ponytail with her bangs lightly grazing the top of her forehead. Paul stiffened as he realized how pretty Dawn looked in the dress. And the blush on her face just added to the aura of sweetness emitting from the girl.

The two stared awkwardly at each other for a few more moments before Paul coughed in his hand to break up the tension.

"You, uh, look nice." He offered in a small voice. Dawn couldn't believe he had complimented her, she also couldn't believe how hot her cheeks felt at that moment. She gave him a look over.

"Y-You look g-good too." She stuttered commenting to herself how much of an understatement it was. Paul seemed to accept the compliment with wide eyes as well before hardening his facial expressions. He turned to see the clock.

"We should get going; we're supposed to be in the lobby right now." Paul commented briskly. Dawn nodded in agreement and followed him to the hallway leading to the lobby. As they walked she glanced at him questionably.

"What Pokémon are you using?" she asked curiously. His eyes flickered to meet hers for a second.

"Trying to get an advantage in the competition I see." Paul remarked causing Dawn to become flustered. She hadn't thought about it like that at all.

"I'm sorry! I didn't-"she paused at the amused smirk on the boy's face and growled with annoyance. "Ha, ha funny." She mocked sarcastically. She stopped for a second and looked at him again; he was still slightly smiling from before.

"You must really like me." Dawn said outright surprising herself with her own poise. Paul stopped in his tracks sending her a bewildered look.

"What?" he asked when he regained his voice.

"I mean whenever you're with other people you put up this big I-don't-care-about-anything attitude. But when you're with me, you're kind of different." She replied.

"And what in the world gave you that impression?"Paul asked giving her a side-ways glance. Dawn thought seriously for a moment before replying.

"You don't scowl as much when you're around me. That has to mean something, right?" Dawn carefully asked. Paul turned to look at her; she was playing nervously with the seam at the end of her dress twisting it around her finger. She seemed to have lost all that confidence that was previously bubbling in her from before. He couldn't help but smirk at the childish antics though.

"I guess that means I tolerate you more than normal people." Paul mumbled slightly embarrassed at his admission. But he didn't regret it as she lowered her head, a faint dusting of pink residing on her cheeks and a large smile on her lips.

"I suppose that's the closet acknowledgement that I'm going to get that we're friends." Dawn presumed. Paul didn't answer but he shook his head with amusement. The pair finally made their way to the lobby just as the order appeared.

"Well you guys made it in time." Ash exclaimed. Dawn smiled at him.

"Hey Ash, you look good in a suit," she turned to face everyone else. "You all look great guys. Oh Maylene, I told you that dress was lovely!" The pink-haired girl smiled and relayed the compliment to Dawn about her white dress.

"Guys, check this out!" Brock called everyone's attention to the board listing the order of contestants. As everyone crowed around they got their number. Maylene blinked as her name flashed by number 3. Brock straightened his jacket after discovering he was going 9th. Reggie smiled at his name next to the number 11. Ash pumped his fist with Pikachu adding in a "pika!" at his number 14. Paul, looked like Paul as he found out his number was 16. Dawn cocked her head at her number, 20.

"I'm going last!" she cried out scared. "I hate going last, after seeing everyone else compete and seeing what you're up against. That's too much pressure!"

"Going last can be an advantage though; you'll know what everyone else did and judge how you did from them." Ash explained.

"And what if I judge that I did badly!" Dawn asked. Her question was answered with silence. She heaved her shoulders in despair.

"Come on Dawn you're better than at least ten of the people here. Including me!" Maylene said.

"You're a great coordinator, Dawn. You don't have to worry." Reggie reassured.

"You always have to believe in yourself, no matter what." Brock encouraged.

"You're the best coordinator I know! Well-er second best. Behind May, actually tied with May. Yeah, and she isn't competing so you'll do great!" Ash cheered. Pikachu gave a hearty "chu!" in agreement.

"You'll be fine."

Dawn turned to Paul at his statement. He was gazing at the wall beside him with indifference, he had no idea how much that statement meant to her. She smiled, not only at his words but all her friends.

"Thanks guys, ah" she rubbed her head sheepishly; "I guess I got weak in knees with this being my last chance to get in a competition. But I'm better now. I know I can do this." She stood firmly fire burning in her azure eyes passionately.

Maylene nervously twirled her poke ball in her hand waiting to be called out for her turn. She hadn't really planned her strategy out well, but she somewhat had an idea of what to do. Unlike Paul and Ash she wasn't trying hard to be competitive it was to keep up her image. The people of Veilstone had accepted her kindly as their gym leader and she didn't plan on letting them down. It hadn't taken long for word to spread that Maylene was competing in the contest; it would probably feel like the whole city was watching her. No pressure, right?

"And now Veilstone, your very own Maylene!" Maylene gulped dryly and raced out the entrance to meet the cheering faces of thousands of people. Usually in gym battles there was rarely an audience. Maybe a few traveling companions of the competitor, but no more than five people. She was now standing in front of thousands of her biggest fans. She couldn't look weak now.

"I choose you meditate!" she called out. The blue and white pokemon flashed in front of the crowd with a dashing smile on his face. Meditite turned to his trainer with a determined nod. Maylene returned the gesture before calling out her command.

"Meditite use calm mind." The psychic Pokémon pressed both its palms together closing his eyes in the process and a soothing essence started emitting from him. He slowly lifted off from the ground a gentle light glowing around him. The crowd seemed to feel it too making them all smile with pleasure.

"Now Force Palm!" Meditite opened his eyes and rushed to the ground slamming both his hands down forcing a shock wave to ripple through quickly.

"Finally," she shouted preparing for her combo move, "Hidden power and then Hi Jump Kick!" He sent out balls of energy being contained with his physic powers. He then ripped through the balls with a powerful and aesthetically pleasing kick. He twirled on the way down landing next to Maylene. The crowd paused for a moment before bursting into applause. Maylene smiled satisfied with the results and hugged her Meditite happily.

"Swift, lets go Staraptor!" Reggie called out. His bird pokemon waved its wings letting star shaped rays shoot out. "Quickly finish this with a Sky-Attack!"

Staraptor dove forcefully towards the star rays twirling and effectively creating a array of colors before smashing into the Swift attack from before. The collision created a scene similar to fireworks and the crowd cheered wildly. The bird Pokémon returned next to Reggie who affectionately rubbed his head, proud at the performance.

"Alright Happiny lets end this," Brock called out with enthusiasm, "Sweet Kiss!" The adorable round playhouse Pokémon turned to the crowd and placed both of its hands on top of its mouth. It let out an enormous kiss making everyone suddenly feel gooey and mushy with its cuteness. The sweet Pokémon happily ran towards its trainer cooing with excitement. Brock picked up his Pokémon and gave an endearing smile to Nurse Joy who was ignoring him completely and was watching Happiny heart-eyed.

"Pikachu thunderbolt!" Ash cried out the Pokémon let out a huge wave of electricity flowing everywhere. "Iron tail, let's go!" Pikachu jumped in the air and then slammed into the ground with his glowing tail sending some sparks everywhere in the process. The clash of the light against each other created an interesting visual display.

"Alright, use agility with volt tackle." Ash finally commanded. Pikachu suddenly became immersed in a ball of lightning and with the speed of agility the electric Pokémon dashed around the stage making a pleasing exhibit of lighti. As Pikachu ended the crowd expounded with applause. Pikachu happily bounced back on Ash's shoulder as his trainer praised him with excitement.

It was Paul's turn. He had just heard the announcer call out his name, but he took a moment to take a breath. _Hope you have fun Chimchar_. And with that the boy walked onto the stage in front of the thousands of faces. He released the poke ball and out came a pumped up Chimchar. The Pokémon knew what was happening today and seemed to be happy.

"Magic coat!" Paul commanded. Chimchar released the attack allowing his fur to shine brightly giving a pretty, glossy look. "Flame wheel." Paul added. Chimchar, now consumed in a ball of fire and shining brightly from his previous attack, rolled around the stage pleasing the audience greatly. Suddenly the fire was extinguished and Chimchar jumped up back to the middle of the stage.

"Fire spin." Paul called out, Chimchar let out five tunnels of fires that roared beautifully with red flames encircling the chimp Pokémon. Each twirling tower of fire whirled around him.

"Thunder punch." Finally the Pokémon fisted his palm electricity flowing through it rapidly. Chimchar slammed it fist into the ground sending a shockwave around him. The wave of electricity extinguished the flames in a sparkling fashion. The fire Pokémon stood proudly in the middle of the stage happily taking in the cheering from the crowd. The Pokémon turned to his trainer who gave Chimchar a blank expression, a trace of a smile on his face. That was enough for Chimchar.

Dawn took a big breath trying calm herself, everyone else did so well in their performances. Especially Paul, to her surprise. She smiled remembering how happy Chimchar looked when he was performing. She shook her head returning to her current situation. She could now hear the announcer calling out her name. "Dawn from Twinleaf Town!" She could do this, she had to do this. Dawn put on her biggest smile and raced on stage. Her nervous jitters seemed to disappear as she found her comfort zone; strangely it was in front of thousands of people. She called out Pachirisu.

"Charm Pachirisu!" Dawn commanded eagerly. The Pokémon happily swung its tail in front of the audience sending out heart shaped charms enchanting everyone instantly.

"Alright now, discharge." Pachirisu released a jolt of electricity that exploded into bursts of twirls and collisions that occurred everywhere. Some swirled around the hearts from the previous move clashing into them and exploding into a color spectrum. Pachirisu stood happily as the sparkles desended upon it in the middle of the stage.

"Lets finish this, Last Resort!" Dawn said. An enormous pull of energy suddenly went towards Pachirisu before the Pokémon let it all out dazzling the crowd with the light demonstration in front of them. As the crowd cheered with enthusiasm Pachirisu hoped over to a delighted Dawn who happily enveloped her electric Pokémon in a hug. She smiled at the crowd waving joyfully.

The group sat together on the sofa's waiting patiently for the results of the appeal round. They had already handed on compliments on each other's performances and were now all hoping to make the next round. At least they hoped Dawn was going to end up in the next round. Dawn nervously twirled her hair around; she knew she had performed well _but still_. A beeping sound from the television informed everyone that the results were in.

Everyone gathered as eight faces flashed on the screen. Maylene, Brock, Reggie, Paul, Ash, and Dawn all watched with wide eyes as they saw each of their faces appear. Dawn jumped up with excitement.

"YES!" she shouted happily."We all made it to the next round!"

"Well that's shocking." Maylene said.

"Hey don't celebrate yet, they're putting up the matches for the next round." Ash mentioned making everyone silence again, except Dawn who was still smiling like crazy. The four matches suddenly appeared: Brock vs. Reggie. Dawn vs. Jack. Paul vs. Katherine. Maylene vs. Ash.

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Did you guys like it? I know describng the appeal round is a little redundant at times, but I hoped you got through it alright. Next round is obviously next chapter, do you guys want me to finish the next round completely? Its that or a chapter for each battle. Look we have 40 reviews so far! Thanks to everyone who took the time to drop a review off. I hope we can get to 50 reviews by the next chapter, you can make it happen. All you have to do is review! In fact you should review right when your done reading this sentance. Go!


	10. Second Round

YAY! Tenth Chapter with over 50 reviews! Thanks to anyone and everyone who reviewed so far. You guys are why I keep writing and I'm glad you all are enjoying the story so much. Alright here go read!

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Johanna popped out of her seat at the sound of her timer going off. She rushed over to the oven to tend to her freshly baked cookies leaving the TV where she was watching the Veilstone contest on. Suddenly the image on the television flickered before showing a news anchor.

"This just in there has been a sighting of the infamous Hunter J." the man shuffled his papers and continued as a picture of a woman with lavender hair and an evil smirk appeared beside him. "As reported by an eyewitness Hunter J's ship was seen heading towards the town of Solaceon. Hunter J is notorious for kidnapping Pokémon with the purpose of selling them illegally. Her last crime was in Hearthome where she stole a Skitty from a young trainer."

"We will update you with any further news on this story; we now take you back to the Contest in Veilstone where the first battle of the second round has just ended."

Johanna hurried back to the living room with a plate full of cookies and a purring Glameow at her legs. She turned to the TV just as the results of the first battle were being shown.

"Oh dear," Johanna said sadly, "It looks like Dawn's traveling friend lost. That's too bad." She bit down on the cookie as the next match seemed about ready to start. The older woman smiled fondly as her daughter suddenly appeared, "Look's like Dawn's up."

Dawn watched the battle proceed in front of her pleased. She glanced up at the score board her meter barely affected while her opponent's was almost depleted. Jack looked nervous trying to command his Eevee to strike Buizel, however with aqua jet Buizel was just too fast. The time ticked down until there was only 30 seconds left.

"Lets finish this Buizel," Dawn called out as Buizel once again dodged his opponent's attack. He gave Dawn an excited look, "Sonic Boom!" The water Pokémon slashed the air gracefully with his tail sending a blast of air towards the Eevee and knocking the normal type Pokémon into the wall.

"Eevee!" Jack cried rushing toward his Pokémon. The timer went off just as the dust around Eevee settled allowing everyone to see the unconscious Pokémon being lifted up by its trainer gently.

"Yes!" Dawn exclaimed as Buizel crossed his arms with a slight smirk and closed eyes. Dawn quickly shook hands with Jack who congratulated her quietly before stepping off the stage and back into the lobby where her friends were. As she was walking she tossed Buizel's poke ball in the air and caught it with a smile.

"Thanks Buizel, two more rounds and we're in." she tried to keep her cool, but she was so close. She couldn't help but get a tiny bit excited. She wondered who her second round opponent would be. It wasn't going to be Brock she thought with a giggle. Brock's battle with Reggie was rather odd. It was obvious in any case that Reggie would most likely win and everyone knew that fact. However Brock was extra enthusiastic to try especially in front of Nurse Joy. He seemed determined to win with Sudowudo by his side, unfortunately all Nurse Joy had to do was smile to distract the hormonal teen and within a minute Reggie had the match. Dawn almost felt bad for her friend if it wasn't so amusing. She finally reached the lobby where everyone except Paul was. The group waved happily at her.

"That was an awesome battle Dawn, you didn't break a sweat!" Maylene complimented brightly. Ash and Reggie agreed and Dawn shrugged trying to act humble even though she was bellowing with pride on the inside. She just then noticed a missing member of the group.

"Hey where is Brock?" Dawn asked. Ash sighed wearily at the mention of the older boy.

"He said he wanted to compliment Nurse Joy on her excellent judging skills ten minutes ago," he paused to think for a moment, "I bet security kicked him out."

"Regardless he wanted us to say he thought you battled great." Reggie added. Dawn shook her head wondering if he would ever learn his lesson.

"Hey Paul's battle should have started by now." Ash said turning towards the screen in the lobby. Indeed it had started, and it was already close to ending. Dawn looked on in amazement as Torterra, powerful and intimidating as always, was taking on a barrage of kicks and punches thrown by a Hitmolee. The attacks seemed powerful enough but based off the blank look on the grass Pokémon's face none of the punches or kicks were actually affecting Torterra. On the other hand the fighting Pokémon looked exhausted and close to fainting. Its damage meter was very low.

"How did Paul get so much damage in when it's only been a minute?" Maylene asked incredulously. Reggie looked a little surprised himself, Ash looked excited slightly.

"I bet he used Frenzy Plant from the get go, right?" Dawn asked to Reggie. He blinked thinking slightly.

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Frenzy Plant is powerful and takes a lot out of an opponent, but I don't know if it's powerful enough to get a damage meter that low." Reggie remarked. Dawn shook her head.

"The attack itself couldn't, but you guys are missing the key component that differs Pokémon battling from contest battling. You get more points, or better put you take more points off your opponent when your moves are aesthetically appealing. He must have made the move look pretty."

"Pretty and Paul don't really go along that well." Ash blurted Dawn sent him a short glare before redirecting her attention to the battle. Hitmolee seemed too tired to attack anymore. Torterra looked like it just woke up from a nap.

"Finish him Torterra."Paul finally commanded, "Razor Leaf." Instantly a whirlwind of leaves flurried towards the fighting Pokémon knocking it out immediately. Torterra turned towards its trainer expectantly. Paul simply recalled the grass Pokémon and left the stage without as much as a word to his opponent. He walked back to the hallway.

"Good job" Paul muttered in a strange voice to the poke ball in his hand before placing it back in his pocket. He sighed, that battle was too easy. There wasn't even a little bit of a challenge, although he could have guessed that. His only real competition was Ash who he hoped to battle in the next round. _That dope better make it_ Paul thought. As he reached the lobby he noticed that Reggie and Dawn were watching the screen intently. He joined them quietly grunting to let his presence be known.

"Oh Paul, that was fantastic out there." Dawn praised. Paul didn't respond staring at the screen knowing that Ash and Maylene's battle was next. Reggie smiled at his little brother.

"If I didn't know any better I would say that you prepared for today Paul." The older brother's smile only grew at the glare he was receiving.

"I just wanted out of there as quick as possible." Paul gruffly responded.

"You know Paul you could actually become a good coordinator." Dawn started Paul almost fell over, "That is if you put in the effort, groomed your Pokémon-"

"Stop right there, diglet will fly the day I get my Pokémon groomed." Paul shuddered at the thought of brushing Chimchar's fur.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you had the same opinion of entering contests not too long ago." Dawn giggled at the look on Paul's face. He was let out of his daze with a slap in the back from a laughing Reggie.

"I was forced against my will." Paul muttered but wasn't heard as Ash and Maylene's battle was about to start.

Ash had called upon Aipom while Maylene had out Lucario. The blue furred fighting Pokémon stood calmly as the purple normal type bounced around. With a nod from Ash to go ahead Maylene raised her hand about to give her first attack.

"Metal claw Lucario." She cried out. Lucario's claws enlarged and glossed over with a metal shine before the Pokémon rushed towards Aipom purposefully. Aipom waited carefully as he watched his opponent approach.

"Aipom dodge!" Ash commanded as the Pokémon pushed itself off the ground with its palm shaped tail.

"Aura sphere!" Maylene shouted out. Lucario rapidly sent out a pulse of aura energy at Aipom catching the Pokémon off guard and sending him tumbling to the ground. Ash gritted his teeth waiting for the Aipom to stand back up. Slowly, the normal type monkey got back on his feet battered from the last attack.

"Bone rush." Maylene quickly said. Lucario suddenly rushed forward ready to slam Aipom back to the ground.

"Double Hit." Ash countered. Aipom quickly slapped the bone away from Lucario and punched the startled Pokémon before it could recover. Lucario took several steps back from the impact. Ash tried to take the advantage.

"Lets finish this Aipom," Ash called out, "Last Resort!"

"Me First Lucario!" Maylene commanded soon after. Before either Ash or Aipom had time to realize what was going on Lucario had already unleashed a burst of energy targeted at the purple Pokémon. The immense power forced Aipom into the ground with a loud thud. Everyone held their breath silently awaiting the result of the battle. Lucario and Maylene watched on warily, while Ash did so hopefully. As the cloud of dust finally started to dissipate everyone could clearly see the unconscious Aipom on the ground.

"Oh my," Maylene let out the breath she was holding as the crowd cheered for her victory. "Ah, good job Lucario!" Her fighting Pokémon turned to her with a small smile on it features. Ash by this time was kneeling in front of Aipom with a smile after confirming his Pokémon was okay.

"Hey don't give me that look, you were great!" Ash said with encouragement, "Have a nice long rest!" He got back on his feet as Maylene approached him.

"Well that sure is a shock." Dawn said watching as Maylene and Ash shook hands with bright grins on both their faces. Reggie looked on with pride.

"I told you Maylene has gotten better." He said. Paul look enraged.

"That idiot went off and lost!" Paul now really didn't have a reason to care anymore. He sighed, he was actually looking forward to this battle and then he goes off and loses, to Maylene. Ash must have gotten soft. Oh well, Paul would have won anyway. It didn't matter anymore; this contest could be as well as done to him now. The fuming purple haired boy seemed to forget one of his possible opponents in the next round.

Ash and Maylene suddenly entered. Dawn rushed over to the other girl chatting enthusiastically, Maylene nervously tried to keep up. Ash, who only looked slightly disappointed, walked over to Reggie and Paul with a guilty smile on his face. Paul met his eyes with his usual indifferent deposition.

"Well, it looks like we can't battle cause I lost." Ash rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"No surprise there, I should have known better expecting you to win yourself in a position to battle with me." Paul grumbled before turning and heading for the sofa's next to the TV. Ash seemed ticked off at the comments but kept quite with respect to his rival's older brother.

"You'll have to excuse him Ash." Reggie apologized.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Ash mumbled annoyed.

"He is just disappointed he can't battle with you is all." Ash blinked not thinking that to be the reason for Paul's current grump mood.

"You think so." Ash asked curiously. Reggie nodded his head with affirmation.

"You're Paul's toughest and maybe even only rival. Whether or not he likes to admit it he enjoys battling you. He was looking forward to it as much as you were, trust me." Ash seemed pleased by the news. Dawn and Maylene appeared beside the pair suddenly looking at the TV eagerly.

"Are the next round battles picked yet? I want to know my opponent." Dawn asked. Just as she said those words the four faces of Reggie, Paul, Dawn, and Maylene appeared. Side by side it was going to be Reggie vs. Paul and Dawn vs. Maylene.

"I have to battle you." Dawn asked hesitantly looking at Maylene who seemed a little surprised herself. Dawn was suddenly worried, her Lucario was tough after all and Maylene just finished beating Ash. And their last battle ended with Dawn losing, she felt her confidence slipping.

"Well would you look at that." Reggie suddenly seemed excited, "Guess I'll be fighting Paul then." Ash's eyes brightened at the statement.

"That's going to be an awesome battle." Ash cried out he turned back to see Paul with a surprised look on his face. Paul had almost forgotten that his brother was in the competition too, he was going to battle Reggie. He stared out in space with a blank look before a smirk crossed his lips. Maybe he would be invested in this contest for a little bit longer.

* * *

I know many of you wanted the battling to end this chapter, and I'm sorry to inform you that we will have one more battling chapter. This chapter might have been a bit boring but we did have to go through the battles so I thought to get through with it already. Next chapter will be immensely longer than any I have written so far, and don't worry I will update with that chapter in at least two days.

Oh and during the battle scene, I realize Last Resort is only used after all the other moves have already been used. But I decided to break the rules. Hey so, review!


	11. Final Battle

Alright I lied about it being immensly bigger than any other chapter, I was going to combine this chapter with the next one so that it would be one gigantic chapter. Oh well, look the battling is almost over. Go, read, Enjoy!

* * *

Dawn couldn't help but fidget, she was nervous about her upcoming battle. She strained her head back trying to find where Maylene was. Their match was starting soon; Dawn huffed and leaned back against the wall. She was sort of excited, Lucario looked tough and it was going to be a great battle. Dawn wasn't that worried about losing surprisingly. There was something else on her mind though, she sighed and let her eyes wander down the hallway.

"Ah, sorry I'm late Dawn." Maylene blurted as she raced down the hallway. Dawn smiled at the girl and stood back up fully.

"You're not late at all; the match only starts in like five minutes."

"Yeah that's a lot of time to spare." Maylene stretched her arms pausing when she noticed Dawn's eyes on her.

"Uh, something the matter?" the pink-haired girl asked.

"I just wanted to make something clear," Dawn started; Maylene was taken back at the serious tone of her voice. "When we're battling out there, I want you to go all out."

"Dawn-"

"Look I know you only entered the contest because of me. But I wouldn't feel comfortable if I won a round because someone went easy. Whether I win or not, you should fight like you want the ribbon just as badly as me."

Maylene was about to respond but faltered. Dawn was pretty stubborn, and it wouldn't be easy to convince her of something she didn't believe in. Maylene sighed and nodded her head in agreement. Dawn beamed at her before wishing the other girl good luck. The announcer soon called back the girls' attention.

"Looks like it's our turn." Dawn exclaimed before jumping forward, Maylene shook her head with a slight smile and continued after her.

Dawn stood confidently in position directly opposite of Maylene. Dawn fingered the poke ball in her hand and then threw it out in front of her. As Buizel appeared it crossed its arms waiting. Maylene threw out her poke ball releasing her Lucario. The two Pokémon seemed to be sizing each other up. Lucario smirked with confidence, and broke off the gaze, angering Buizel.

"Swift, let's go!" Dawn commanded. Buizel swished his tail sending out blasts of star shaped beams at the fighting Pokémon.

"Use metal claw to deflect." Maylene said. Lucario's claws enlarged and became encased in tough metal. Lucario slashed the Swift move making it useless.

"Swords Dance!" Maylene called out. Lucario quickly started dancing with graceful moves, but Buizel took advantage of his limited defensive moves at the moment. It slammed in to Lucario with a powerful aqua jet sending the fighting type to the ground.

"I wonder why Maylene used swords dance. It completely left Lucario unguarded." Ash asked.

"Do you work hard to be this dumb?" Paul harshly replied. Ash bug-eyed and annoyed appeared beside him glaring incessantly.

"It's a legitimate question!" Ash barked in the purple haired boy's ear. Paul proceeded to shove Ash away from him.

"She used swords dance to get her attack powered up and for appeal points. Two birds with one stone, should I explain what that means?" Paul mocked.

"Lucario still got damaged though." Ash pointed out.

"Barely, besides that's the price of getting a stronger attack out." Paul then let out a frustrated growl, "The problem is these two are taking forever in this battle."

"You seem to be impatient for our battle." Reggie pleasantly remarked.

"What tipped you off?" he replied grumpily.

"The world doesn't revolve around you drama queen." Ash commented snickering at the furious look on his face.

"What did you say?"

"Quite, both of you!" Reggie said silencing the bickering rivals and turning everyone's attention back to the screen.

"Buizel use razor wind." Dawn called out. The Pokémon let out the attack sending the blast of wind towards the fighting Pokémon. Lucario took on the attack full blast allowing the wind to cut through its fur. He gritted his teeth.

"Close combat!" Maylene commanded. Lucario flashed forward appearing in front of Buizel. He then shoved his arms and legs at Buizel in a swirl of punches and kicks. Buizel tried dodging some of the attacks but found that it couldn't keep up with the speed of them. Lucario sent one final punch sending Buizel flying to the opposite end.

"Buizel!" Dawn cried out at her injured Pokémon. The water Pokémon struggled to its feet with an angry look on its features. Dawn let out a sigh in relief knowing she had to finish this battle before Buizel got attacked again. An idea formed in her head and she smiled.

"Alright, Buizel use ice beam and aim it at Lucario's feet." Before Lucario could respond Buizel let out the beam of ice straight at its feet planting Lucario to the ground.

"Oh no!" Maylene cried. Lucario tried using its metal claw against the ice encasement around its feet, but it was useless.

"Yes, I say this is the perfect time to use our new technique Buizel!" The water Pokémon smirked in response excited to use its new move. "Alright, Brick Break!" Buizel charged up a powerful force in its right hand staring at the increasingly anxious Lucario.

"Go ahead!" Buizel rushed forward smashing its fist straight into Lucario. The force of the attack shattered the ice around Lucario's feet and sent the fighting type into the wall. As soon as Lucario collided with the wall it was knocked unconscious.

"And that's a win for Dawn!" Ash cried with enthusiasm.

"That was a smart tactic, huh" Reggie turned to see Paul leaving the area, "Hey where are you going?"Paul didn't turn around.

"It's time for our battle." And with that he left.

"Eager isn't he?" Ash said. Reggie smiled and waved back at Ash.

"Tell Dawn and Maylene they did great. I'll see you guys after the battle." Reggie called back as he left as well. Ash stared back at him.

"Good Luck."

"Alright!" Dawn pumped a fist in the air, "Now its time for the ultimate showdown. Reggie vs. Paul, Big Brother vs. Little Brother, Good vs. Evil!"

"Since when did Paul equate to evilness." Maylene weakly asked.

"She's is just excited cause she is into the next round." Ash dismissed the navy haired girl and pointed to the TV, "The battle should start any second now."

Paul and Reggie stared across from each other, one looking placid and the other delighted. Paul suddenly released his poke ball sending out Torterra. Reggie followed suit letting out his Bibarel.

"I guess I'll go first, rollout Bibarel!" the brown beaver curled up in a ball and rushed towards Torterra who didn't make any movements to dodge. Torterra only grunted at the collision with Bibarel. The water Pokémon slumped against the grass type after finishing its move.

" Crunch." Paul commanded. Torterra bit down viciously on Bibarel inflicting severe damage on the Pokémon. Torterra then threw Bibarel back to the other side using its jaws. Bibarel landed on its feet still smarting from the attack.

"Head butt!" Reggie called out; Bibarel jumped in the air and directly hit Torterra straight on. The grass type tried to retaliate but Bibarel had already jumped back in the air to go for another attack.

"Leaf Storm!" Paul commanded, Torterra send out the powerful attack at Bibarel who was still mid-air. The attack slashed straight into Bibarel sending it flying.

"WAH!" the judges fled their table as the attack smashed right above them colliding with the score board. The crowd gasped in shock along with everyone else that was watching in the lobby. As the dust blew over a hobbled looking Bibarel emerged shaking quite visibly. It stood up glaring at the slightly battered Torterra. Paul waited for Reggie to make the next move. Reggie, cautiously watching the scoreboard which was sparking and looked ready to fall back, snapped back into the match.

"Uh, Bibarel lets use super fang." Reggie commanded. _Finally_, Paul smirked. He stood waiting for the water Pokémon to attack. Torterra took the brute force of the attack flinching slightly. Reggie's eyes widened as Torterra withstood the attack.

"H-How did Torterra do that?" Dawn asked watching the screen intently. "It's just taking attack after attack, like nothing is affecting it."

"That's some tough training Paul put that Pokémon through." Maylene commented impressed, "And it looks like it's working quite well."

"Yeah, just look at Paul. He looks positively giddy." Ash paused scratching his head, "Well as giddy as an emotionless void can get."

"Even Reggie looks kind of surprised." Dawn added as Bibarel finally gave up trying to hold on to the tough outer shell of the grass Pokémon with its fangs. It leaped on top of the softer, grassy part of the shell and tried biting down again. Paul saw right through the plan.

"Razor leaf!" Paul called out. Torterra blasted a wave of bladed leaves straight in the face of Bibarel who flew back from the close impact. Reggie stood momentarily watching his Bibarel fall in front of him before raising his eyes to meet Paul's. A smirk was neatly placed on the younger boys face and soon a similar one appeared on Reggie's.

"Alright then, I guess we only have one move left."

"What are you talking about; I could do this all day." Reggie rolled his eyes at the statement and turned to Bibarel who looked fairly worn out from the battle. He shifted his gaze to Torterra who appeared unfazed, but Reggie knew better. The Pokémon wasn't as damaged as Bibarel however it was still hurt. This battle would end with only one more move from each opponent and both brothers knew it.

"Super power!"

"Frenzy Plant!"

A strong emergence of power erupted from Bibarel and aimed straight at Torterra. Suddenly large, thick vines burst from the ground whacking the water Pokémon and continually thrashing it on the air. The beam of energy from before came close to Torterra until exploding because it hit something. The explosion engulfed the whole stage blinding everyone from what had happened to the two Pokémon.

Reggie and Paul lifted their hands to shield their eyes from the dust. Everyone waited until the battle field cleared up to see Bibarel had fainted and Torterra without a scratch. Paul actually seemed pleased.

"What a wonderful battle!" Reggie kneeled besides his fallen Pokémon patting in reassuringly on the back, "That was fantastic fighting out there Bibarel. Take a well deserved rest." He recalled Bibarel before turning to Paul who had already recalled Torterra.

"So you used one of the vines from Frenzy Plant to shield Torterra, very smart." Reggie said. He then patted his little brother's head despite his retaliation at such brotherly affection.

"There are people looking!" Paul hissed through his teeth as he tried swatting away Reggie's hand.

"I'm so proud to be your older brother." Reggie yelled so everyone in the audience could hear. The crowd cheered happily at the family moment.

"You are so going to regret this," Paul muttered before turning to leave he paused and looked back, "Just reminding you that I won."

"Good for you." Reggie called back continuing to wave at the jubilant crowd. Paul rolled his eyes and continued to exit off the stage. But there was still a small smile on his face, _I beat him_.

"Another half-an-hour huh?" Maylene asked. Dawn shook her head in annoyance. The last battle, Paul vs. Dawn was probably supposed to be over by now. However, it was pushed back until the scoreboard that was broken in the last battle could be fixed. Stupid Paul, Dawn cocked her head. Where was Paul anyway?

"Paul should be helping fix the thing, he broke it after all." Ash said.

"I think he's brooding in his dressing room, that's what Reggie said." Maylene replied. Dawn got up; she needed to talk to Paul about something before they battled.

"Paul has a dressing room?" Ash asked questionably. Dawn said she'd be back in a few minutes and left to go find Paul's dressing room. She searched the hallways until seeing Paul standing inside a room. Dawn went to the door way and politely knocked on the frame. Paul whipped around to meet her eyes, his in turn narrowed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked at his next opponent. Dawn frowned at his snappy attitude.

"Gee, you sure seem in a pleasant mood." She stated brows raised.

"Aren't I always?" he replied with sarcasm.

"But you just beat your brother, I don't know for some reason I thought you'd be happier."

"Maybe I would be happier if I actually beat him."

"What do you mean?" Dawn hesitated as a thought occurred to her, "Oh, do you think that he was going easy on you?"

"No," Paul answered bluntly, "He went all out. But he went all out with his Bibarel of all Pokémon." Paul huffed irritably, "Bibarel is his weakest Pokémon, whether he cares to admit it or not. Torterra is much more powerful than that Pokémon and that doesn't take in consideration the type advantage. In short while I enjoyed my battle with Reggie, it wasn't the kind of battle I want to fight with him."

Dawn stared at him in amazement; she had never heard him talk that much at once before. She couldn't help the smile forming on her lips, could it be he was warming up to her. Maybe he was opening up a little bit, to her. Paul glared at her.

"What are you smiling at me for?" he snapped. Dawn sighed abandoning her previous thoughts, and shook her head. He rolled his eyes and returned to his indifference before realizing something.

"Why are you here again?" he asked. She scowled at him with hands on her hips.

"I have every right to be here." Paul raised his eyebrows with amusement.

"This is a dressing room, specifically my dressing room." Paul smirked at her flushed face. Dawn, still flustered, tried remembering exactly why she came in the first place. She suddenly remembered their battle in the next round; anxiety filled her body just at the mere thought.

"I wanted to let you know, not to-"

"Take it easy on you?" Paul filled for her; she blinked before nodding her head dumbly. He gave her a funny look.

"I'd never let myself lose to the likes of you, not willingly at least." He said blankly, "Don't worry about not winning you precious ribbon unfairly, and instead try concentrating on the winning part." _Not like you have a chance_, he thought to himself but she already looked unnerved and he decided to keep quite.

"Right." She responded she stood silently trying to calm herself. Dawn hadn't expected to be facing Paul in the Contest. She had actually assumed he would purposefully lose in the first round, but now she had to fight him. She just began to realize how powerful his Pokémon were, could she even win?

"Hey you can leave now." Paul pointed towards the door with insistence. She looked up at him startled; he frowned at the unfamiliar look in her eyes. Was the normally optimistic girl getting scared last second? Dawn nodded her head and left the room the next moment. Paul waited for her to leave before pulling out his poke ball containing Torterra. He stared at it, before sighing and rubbing his head with annoyance.

"When the hell did I become so weak?" he left the room mumbling something obscure under his breath.

Dawn couldn't help glancing every few seconds at her opponent across from her. He instead was glaring at the workers trying to fix the scoreboard, forgetting he was the one who broke it in the first place. His patience was wearing thin and really just wanted this battle over with. They had called both trainers to the stage for the battle, but the timer started going berserk before any fighting actually happened. So now they had to wait for the timer to be fixed and the longer it took the more Dawn became convinced she would lose.

That wouldn't stop her from giving it her best shot, but it also didn't stop her from thinking about how she'd probably miss out on the Grand Festival. Her attention was suddenly pulled back to the timer on the scoreboard as it sparked again sending the workers tumbling away in fear.

"Alright that's it!" Nurse Joy stomped down her foot with impatience. She pulled out a small watch from her apron and clocked it had five minutes. "There, we can use this instead of that thing.

"But we won't know the time." Dawn pointed out.

"I'll call out the time every minute until the last thirty seconds where I'll call it out in ten second intervals. Is that okay with everyone?" Nurse joy snapped. Her fellow judges nodded quickly not wanting to get her angrier.

"I guess."

"Whatever."

"Okay then! Nurse joy let out pleasantly, "Time starts now!"

"Buizel spotlight!" Dawn called out letting out her water Pokémon. She sighed, water against grass was no competition at all. She felt bad for Buizel because he had worked so hard so far through this round. Dawn just hoped she wouldn't get wiped out. Paul silently released his own Pokémon.

"Chimchar!" the fire type cried out as it appeared on stage. Dawn stared at the Pokémon incredibly. She looked up at Paul with confusion.

"I-I thought, aren't you supposed to be using Torterra?" Dawn asked still startled.

"Since when did the opponents decide what Pokémon the other should choose?" Paul retorted.

"But the rules-"

"If you read the rules for this contest you would know that you can choose any of the two Pokémon you entered into the contest in any round. I've decided to use Chimchar in both the appeal round and this round. Do you have a problem with that?" Paul bitterly asked. Dawn's eyes widened as she realized what he had done, he did this for her. So that she could win, it would be too much to ask him to throw the battle since it conflicted so badly with his personality. Instead he gave her every reason to win while still making the battle fair. Her confidence rose tremendously.

Meanwhile from the lobby, the rest of the group seemed equally as dumb founded.

"I can't believe Paul did that; doesn't he know that Torterra gives him a better chance at winning?" Maylene said confused. Reggie smiled impressed by his brother's action.

"I can't believe Paul could do something so weirdly nice for someone else." He commented happily.

"I can't believe Paul actually read the rules for this contest." Ash remarked dully, he then scrunched up his nose, "Hey that means I could have used Pikachu against you!" he exclaimed pointing at Maylene.

"And with Pikachu I would have totally won!" he concluded. Pikachu, perched on top of Ash's head, agree through a mouthful of ketchup. "Man I should have read the rules more often."

"Right."Maylene said slowly suppressing her laughter. "Looks like they are actually going to start now."

"One minute!"

"Flame wheel!" Paul called out. Chimchar engulfed himself in flames and rolled towards Buizel.

"Aqua Jet!" Dawn said, Buizel rushed forward to meet Chimchar head on instantly extinguishing the flames around Chimchar. The fire Pokémon fell to the ground in pain.

"Flamethrower." The attack had a full on collision burning part of Buizel's body. The water Pokémon cried out from the attack.

"Buizel try using swift." The attack hit Chimchar taking damage, but the Pokémon didn't fall.

"Thunderpunch." Chimchar swiftly moved forward hitting Buizel straight on with a powerful blast of electricity. Buizel was thrown to the ground reeling from the electricity still coursing through its body.

"Ten seconds!" Nurse Joy called out. Dawn waited anxiously for Buizel to stand back up; Paul also had his intense gaze rested on the water Pokémon. Shakily Buizel rose and turned to Dawn instantly waiting for her command. Paul smirked, if she got her move out then she would win. And he wouldn't look like a pansy; it was a win-win.

"Five Seconds!"

"Buizel water pulse!" Buizel flinched slightly still hurt but gathered the attack in its hands before releasing it. The blast of water flew straight at Chimchar and knocked the Pokémon back in an instant. Chimchar became unconscious sprawled on the floor. Paul stared in amazement, even he had tried to dodge he wasn't too sure Chimchar would have been able to.

Nurse Joy stared at the timer in her hand before glancing back up. Dawn couldn't contain her excitement she squeezed Buizel in delight.

"We won! We won! We won!" She cried out. She looked up when the crowd wasn't cheering, what was wrong? Dawn turned to face Nurse Joy.

"Before the water pulse attack was used Buizel's damage meter was lower than Chimchar's." Nurse Joy started. "And since the water pulse was used after time was up, Paul is the winner!"

* * *

Oh, how many of you called that! Not much left to say, so review!


	12. For a Ribbon

Paul's eyes widened as he took in Nurse Joy's statement. His first instinct was to turn to Dawn who had the same disbelieving expression on her face. She stared at Nurse Joy motionless and eyes large. She appeared to be trying to say something but her stutter was so horrible the words became incomprehensible. Buizel, previously elated on the inside, hung by Dawn's arms and looked up in confusion when water dropped on his head.

"Bui?" the water Pokémon prodded gently nudging the girl in the chin with his head. Dawn was shaken out of her daze by the motion and stared down at Buizel eyes still watering. She tried smiling but it was so shaky that it only furthered to alarm Buizel more. She sniffled and fetched her poke ball, quickly recalling Buizel not wanting to explain to her Pokémon that all his hard work was for nothing. The work all of her Pokémon put through to get the previous four ribbons was a waste of time. She had failed all of them.

Her hands were clenched so tightly around the poke ball that she was trembling, in fact her whole body was. And it wouldn't stop, just like the tears. She had to get away; she was having a break down in front of thousands of people! She raised her head trying to brush of the ever coming tears when her eyes met Paul's. She had never seen him look so guilty and in shock before. But it wasn't his fault, and Dawn truly wanted to tell him that but she could barely think let alone speak. She couldn't take it; Dawn ducked her head so Paul wouldn't see the tears streaming down her face and ran off the stage.

Paul stood frozen as he watched Dawn run off stage, he was actually feeling sorry for her. This was beyond stupid; he wasn't supposed to win the contest. He watched awkwardly as Nurse Joy approached him and the crowd was bursting with applause. They had never seen such an exciting ending before and were beyond delighted with the battle.

As Nurse Joy reached him she pulled out the case holding the Veilstone Ribbon. And of course it was flippin pink. In the middle of Nurse Joy's presentation Paul snatched the ribbon from the case and stuffed it hastily in the depths of his pocket. And before Nurse Joy could blink the purple haired boy had made his way off the stage.

"D-Did Paul just…" Maylene trailed off in disbelief. Ash and Reggie stood beside her staring at the screen with the same replica of astonishment.

"He won," Reggie managed to say in a monotone voice, "after all that trouble we went through to get the contest still running and Paul was doing his best to let her win, he still won. Paul won a contest. And she even beat him, yet lost."

"Life has lost all meaning." Ash added. All of a sudden Dawn appeared running in her face still damp. She accidently ran into Ash's back. She abruptly looked up when Ash, Reggie, and Maylene turned to her. They all seemed to suddenly express concern at her appearance.

"H-Hey g-guys." She stammered still trying to dry her face.

"Dawn, are you alright?" Maylene asked cautiously. Dawn bit her lip.

"I'm fine, I just…give me a moment." And before anyone could object she ran off again expect this time tears were in her eyes.

"Shouldn't someone go talk to her?" Ash asked about to go chase after her himself. Suddenly Paul appeared looking rather aggravated although it was hard to tell what exactly he was annoyed by. Trailing behind him were a spawn of high-pitched screaming girls, and some guys, who were begging for an autograph. He whipped around furiously and glared at all of them making them flinch in fear.

"I said NO! I'm not in the mood to deal with any of you and I'm also not in the mood to explain why. So get away from me before the precious Chimchar you all seem to love so much flame wheel you out of my sight." That was all the entire crowd needed to convince them to leave; they scrambled away not wanting to further magnify his anger. Paul, still seething, turned back to Reggie, Maylene, and Ash who were slightly amused at the situation.

"I don't want to hear it." He instantly said. Ash dropped his smile and turned back to where Dawn had run off.

"I'm still kind of worried about Dawn." Ash stated with unease. "It looked like she was about to cry."

"Where is she?" Paul asked turning to the raven-haired boy. Ash frowned at him kind of perplexed at the question.

"In her dressing room. Why, are you going to try and talk to her?" he asked with a grin. Paul simply glared at him and walked off towards the location to the amazement of the rest of the group. "I wasn't serious!" Ash called out but Paul ignored him and continued.

It didn't take long for Paul to figure out where Dawn had stashed herself, the crying was a real tip off. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to do what he was going to do, but he was already here. Paul heaved a sigh before knocking gently against the wood of the door.

"Occupied." Came a muffled response and Paul rolled his eyes in response.

"It's me." He replied dryly.

"Paul?" she asked and sniffled slightly, "what do you want?" Surely he didn't come here to apologize, not only was in not warranted it was also surprising. The cold-hearted Paul coming to try and talk to her after her devastating loss, it certainly sounded strange. He probably came to rub it her face she though miserably.

"I wanted to talk to you about something." He simply said. Dawn had a hard time believing that, but nothing else made sense either.

"But it'll kind of be hard to talk to you if the door is in the way." Paul added.

"I don't feel like talking, I'm just way too upset about losing the contest and not being able to participate in the Grand Festival." She said dejectedly, "Not like you would know how that feels, you've probably think I'm just some weak crybaby."

"I don't actually." Paul admitted leaning against the door.

"I don't need you to lie for me."

"And I don't need you interrupting me." He growled silencing the girl on the other side. Paul sighed trying to think of a way to calm the girl down. She was after all irrational with all those emotions bursting inside of her. He rubbed his head; this was not what he had signed up for.

"I get that you're upset. It's understandable, you worked hard for something and when you didn't reach it you got upset. There isn't anything wrong with that."

"I cried on stage." Dawn emphasized.

"Everyone gets disappointed all the time."

"You don't." she countered meekly. He considered this, she was so wrong. He probably got more upset more often than most people; Paul just expressed his disappointment differently. Instead of useless tears he got angrier. His expectations for his Pokémon were high, when they didn't meet them he got angry. And rarely did his Pokémon ever meet his standard of excellence, which might be why people always thought he was grumpy. Paul seemed to have forgotten he was trying to settle down an over-emotional Dawn.

"Maybe I don't but that's because I realized that it's no use getting mad about something and wasting time moaning about it." He was lying through his teeth, that's exactly what he did. Paul wondered if he should take his own advice. He then thought for a second if there was such thing as a Dawn who didn't use emotion with every action she took. Maybe he should re-phrase that last statement.

"That doesn't mean you can't cry and get mad, you can but…"he was losing how to convey the message properly, "Alright look I completely forgot where I was going with this but if you're upset because tons of people saw you cry, who cares? It doesn't ever matter what other people think, and besides that they all probably understand more than look down upon you. If you're upset that you lost the stupid contest then that's alright, you're allowed to be. But don't think it's the end of the world and you can't go on or whatever romantic crap you girls seem to lean on. It isn't, get over it. Now," he huffed, talking this much was too much energy. It was why he didn't normally do it amid other reasons.

"Either continue to moan and groan about life's cruelties and eventually get over it, or get over it now and come out." Paul declared crisply. He waited a few moments for a reply and when he didn't receive one he scowled.

"If you picked the former I hope you wouldn't mind telling me so I won't have to find out how long you classify eventually as." He could hear a sound on the other side that sort of was like giggling but it was hard to tell. "Dawn." He growled coldly. The door knob suddenly started wobbling and Dawn opened the door still looking a little sad but much better from before. Paul stared at her waiting for her to get ready. She looked up at him nervously.

"Sorry, I just…" she stopped and seemed to gaze past him for a moment. "This was such a big deal to me, and the fact that I was only a few seconds off from winning my fifth ribbon…I guess it makes it hurt more."

"But you're right. I should be crying my eyes out for thing I missed out on, there is always next year. And you did make me feel better. I think I'll be okay now, thanks." She said brightly smiling at him. He hesitated in response and looked away. Her smile was intoxicating and he was afraid staring at it too long would make it contagious. Instead Paul reached into his pocket and pulled out the pink ribbon. Dawn's face stiffened at the sight of the ribbon she had desired for so badly.

"Here," Paul offered Dawn's eyes widened in shock, "take it." Dawn stared down at the ribbon in his hand, the ribbon that would have been her fifth. She wanted to take it; every fiber in her being was itching to grab it. But she couldn't, it was just wrong. The rules never mentioned anything about giving ribbons away although one would think it would be frowned upon. But besides that Dawn didn't feel like she deserved it. She had lost, as bewildering as the circumstances were she still lost. Dawn shook her head slowly.

"I can't," she refused softly. "Thank-you, but it's yours." Paul stared at her like she was crazy. He certainly didn't want it, and she had been crying about it ten minutes ago. Why didn't she just take it?

"Look, you don't have to act all sweet and dignified. If you won't do it for yourself do it as an act of charity to me. Just take the stupid thing, so I don't have to deal with it. You think I want to carry a ribbon around with me, not to mention one dripping in pink?" he insisted shoving the object towards her, Dawn immediately backed off.

"It's not right, I can't take it."

"Why?" Paul growled. She stopped for a moment trying to think.

"It's like if someone just offered you s gym badge without having to battle for it. How would you feel about that?" Dawn said trying to show him. It finally seemed to click in Paul's head and he sighed.

"Look, it isn't like that at all. You should have won, we both know that. If I hadn't destroyed that scoreboard you would have known how much time was left and probably would have gotten that last water pulse off in time. My Chimchar fainted; you Pokémon was still left standing anyone with brains could figure out the winner of that battle."

"But-"

"Just take it Dawn, take it and go to the Grand Festival. I'm sure you've been dreaming of going there as often as I have been dreaming of participating in the League Championships. I'd hate to see a dream like that get crushed because of one fluke error." Paul stood watching Dawn who seemed to still be taking in his words. She finally lifted her hand and picked up the ribbon gently. Her eyes seemed to shimmer brightly with excitement as Paul silently observed. Dawn wrapped her fingers delicately around the prized possession and turned up to Paul with the most ethereal smile on her face.

"Thanks." She said genuinely, and Paul nodded in return afraid of what might come out of his mouth if he tried talking. They stood there staring just past each other for the next few seconds; Paul was beginning to feel like that light airy feel of the moment had passed. Dawn didn't though, and with a flushed face she took a step towards him arms raising. Paul looked alarmed at this action.

"What are you doing?" he snapped. She hesitated but the blush on her face started growing along with her smile.

"I have the urge to give you a big friendly hug right now."

"Fight it."

"But it's only as compensation for all the effort you took to help me feel better and the ribbon." Dawn explained.

"You call _that_ compensation?" Paul asked wildly. Dawn gave him a mock pout and put her hands on her hips.

"Fine then, but you'll be regretting it." She laughed at the look on his face. He let out the tiniest of smiles as well before bringing up another issue.

"We should head back; the others are kind of worried about you." Paul said, Dawn agreed and the two made their way back to the lobby. Maylene rushed to Dawn's side as soon as the navy haired girl appeared. Reggie and Ash noted how much better Dawn looked and turned to Paul in surprise. Paul shot them a look to not ask, and his brother seemed to respect that. Reggie walked over to where the girls were. Ash, however, wasn't so keen on letting his rival get off that easy.

"Hey Paul, Dawn seems much better now. That must have been one inspirational pep talk." Ash grinned; Paul glared at him as if the raven haired boy and flung the most insulting statement ever.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't do pep talks." Paul coldly corrected, Ash frowned and scratched his chin in thought.

"Well Dawn was pretty upset when she locked herself in that room, then you talked to her and she was back to her old self. I don't know," Ash couldn't help the smile as Paul's face morphed into a horrified expression, "sure sounds like a pep talk to me." Paul twitched with realization. He had just given a pep talk, to Dawn of all people. What in world was happening? He shook his head refusing to believe he had actually helped someone else by talking to them.

"I gave her the ribbon that's probably why she got so much happier." Paul explained but at that exact moment Dawn swopped over a gigantic, and Paul added as a side note somewhat annoying, smile plastered on her face.

"Oh but Paul it wasn't just the ribbon. That pep talk you gave me made me feel better, I can't thank you enough." Dawn cooed. Ash snickered behind the pair.

"You. Are. Not. Helping!" Paul fumed angrily at Dawn, he whipped his head back to Ash, "Shut up!" But of course Ash didn't know the meaning to said phrase.

"And what did you give in return to Paul, Dawn?" Ash asked the girl. Dawn frowned at the question.

"I tried giving him a hug, but he didn't want one."

"Maybe you should try harder this time." Ash suggested.

"I swear Ketchum I will-"

"That's a great idea Ash!" Dawn exclaimed edging towards Paul happily. Paul's eyes widened and before anyone could blink the boy had ran off leaving behind a laughing Ash and Dawn.


	13. Good Bye

Thank you all my lovely readers for the reviews. I knew you all would like that last chapter. Go ahead and read the newest update, sorry it took so long.

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Paul closed the door behind him quietly, not keen on letting the sleeping trainers hear him leave the house. The sky had just settled into a pink hue with the sun gently rising underneath. It was still early in the morning and barely anyone was awake. Paul smirked to himself; it was the perfect opportunity for some training. Much to his chagrin yesterday was actually entertaining. Beyond the battles and the hustle of the contest Paul found that he had enjoyed himself throughout the day. And after the contest he didn't feel the need to escape from everyone else, maybe he was finding all of them much more tolerable than before. Anyway the point was he was too distracted to train yesterday, Paul refused to acknowledge that the battles could be considered as training because contest battles were beneath him. He would just have to make up the lost time today, although Paul couldn't help but feel that he forgot something. He shrugged rolling off the nagging feeling and continued with only three poke balls tucked in his pocket. Paul's expression blanched into a serious look, only four more days.

Dawn was strangely not feeling as happy as she thought she would be. She was happy, excited about the Grand Festival and getting the last ribbon for qualification. But she was kind of feeling sad; sure she had only stayed at Reggie's house for a couple of days. But it was really nice to be staying in one place for a while, and being around Reggie, Maylene and Paul was kind of fun. She continued brushing her hair slightly in awe of what she just thought. Being around Paul was fun? It was weird after seeing his other side that fateful night two weeks ago Paul seemed different even in his snappish mood. She didn't find him as aggravating first of all. And when he was just with her, Paul almost seemed capable of being nice. With a few sarcastic jabs here and there, but Dawn actually liked that about him. She sighed placing the brush down, she hated to admit it but she would miss hanging around him. She was satisfied with the progress in their relationship, they were kind of friends. Dawn was worried that after leaving all the progress she made would be for nothing.

Dawn left the bathroom and packed her hair brush back into her traveling pack. She carefully took out the ribbon case tucked safely in her bag and opened it. Her fingers brushed aganist the pink ribbon on the bottom as her eyes softened. She blew a puff of air out before placing it back and lifting up the bag onto her shoulders; Dawn really wouldn't mind staying a bit longer. As she made her way downstairs she could hear the casual conversation between Brock, Ash, and Reggie while eating the remaining waffles from breakfast. Dawn had already eaten and sat in front of them. Ash had just eaten his last bite.

"So Dawn ready to head to Sunyshore!" Ash asked clearly excited to get his last badge. Dawn faked a smile while nodding with Ash returning the gesture. Reggie and Brock didn't seem quite convinced but kept silent. Ash slammed the fork on the table and wiped his face quickly.

"Alright, I'm done. Are you guys ready?" Ash turned to Brock and Dawn who both pointed to their packed bags as a reply, "Pikachu?" Ash asked his electric companion leaped up onto its master's head giving out a thumb up sign.

"What's the hurry Ash?" Reggie asked with a half-laugh. "It's a two day journey regardless of how fast you leave today. You won't be facing Volkner for another three days."

"The faster, the better." Ash seemed anxious, "It's just that Paul already had his eight badges and he is already training for the League Championships. I want to hurry up and get my eight badges too."

"Hey now that you mention it, where is Paul?" Brock brought up. Dawn, who was thinking the same thing, turned her attention to Reggie. The older boy didn't seem very pleased at the mention of his brother.

"If I had to guess, training." he replied uncharacteristically cold. It didn't last long as he dropped the hardened look for one which was disappointed, "Sorry, guys I think he forgot you guys were leaving today." Dawn was the only one who seemed taken back from the information. She stared hard at the table biting her lip. Ash shrugged with indifference.

"It isn't a big deal, I would have been surprised if he had stayed to say good bye." Ash said, "Its sounds like the same old Paul to me."

"That's the problem." Reggie muttered under his breath, yet Dawn managed to overhear it and she couldn't help but agree. It was relatively something trivial, saying good bye. And yet she expected that much of him, she was looking forward to it. No one else seemed to notice Dawn's downcast mood after that except a certain yellow mouse. Pikachu, a careful observer, noted that Dawn seemed upset that Paul wasn't here. There was always a simple solution to that. Pikachu sniffed the air with purpose.

"Char!" Chimchar rolled off just as the rock exploded. Chimchar unfurled and watched happily at the result of the technique. Paul watched trying not to look impressed at the attack. The fact of the matter was that Chimchar seemed to have boosted its power level in the past two days. Paul frowned in confusion until he noticed Chimchar standing in front of him waiting for his next command with a smile. Paul narrowed his eyes sharply.

"Try you're fighting moves over there, they have to be faster and stronger than usual." Paul was slightly surprised to see Chimchar nod his head in determination and proceed to perform his moves. Usually by now exhaustion would have started setting in on his fire type. What had changed in the last two days that could cause such a difference, the contest? Paul recalled Chimchar enjoying the experience but what would such a simple thing as a performance do to help strength? It didn't make any sense to Paul, was it possible that happiness was a factor. Paul decided to look into this issue more after his training, right now it wasn't important how his Pokémon got stronger it was just that they got stronger. He didn't care how, although the thought that he might be using Ketchum's method of training made him want to gag.

Paul lightly touched the two remaining poke balls in his pocket; he had forgotten to bring the all of them. The only Pokémon he had on him were his Torterra and his Gligar, he was hoping to train his weaker less experienced Pokémon today but he didn't really want to go all the way back to his house. He was currently in a training ground he used to use when he was kid in the outskirts of Veilstone. It was fairly secluded, so no one would bother him. That's the way he liked it.

"I guess this is good bye for now guys." Reggie stated a pleasant smile on his face. Ash, Brock, and Dawn nodded their head returning the gesture.

"So I guess we will see you at the League Championships then Reggie." Ash asked.

"Of course, wouldn't miss a potential battle between you and Paul." Dawn didn't need that reminder but she masked her disappointment, well from the humans. Pikachu suddenly jumped off Ash's shoulder and sniffed the air. His ears perked up instantly and he started racing down a random direction.

"Pikachu!" Ash called chasing after his first Pokémon with haste. It took Dawn, Brock, and Reggie a few moments to react before trying to follow them too. But Pikachu had raced off pretty fast, and thus Ash was already far ahead of them. They barely managed to catch a glimpse of Ash's distinctive red cap as he raced away. Dawn, Brock, and Reggie had to dodge passerby's on the street while trying to keep up. However, the trio soon reached a point where they had no idea where Ash went.

"What is going on?" Brock asked looking around for any idea where Ash and Pikachu went.

"Pikachu must have sensed something; I have no idea what it could be though." Reggie stated also trying to find the missing pair. Dawn huffed out of breath from the running.

"Well, there is no sight of either of them. In fact," Dawn looked around the area slightly confused, "I have no idea where we are."

"We are kind of deep into the city." Reggie stated and shook his head, "You're right we aren't going to get anywhere trying to search for them ourselves. Here lets go back to my house, we can use Staraptor to trying finding them from the sky."

"Good idea." Brock commented and the three made their way back while wondering what could have cause Pikachu to run off like that. Ash was thinking the same thing as he was doing everything he could to keep up with the speedy electric type.

"Hey Pikachu, slow down will you!" Ash called out, "If you want to show something to me racing ahead won't do either of us any good!" Pikachu seemed to not be paying attention and continued forward with a muttering and exhausted Ash behind him. Finally Pikachu seemed to slow down, his ears perked up again and he stood on his hind legs.

"Pika!" Pikachu finally said towards Ash pointing a specific direction. Ash was trying to catch his breath and looked up red in the face.

"Mind telling me what this is all about?" Ash watched as Pikachu trotted along, "Pikachu?" Suddenly he could hear a loud explosion not too far away. Ash frowned wondering what it could be, whatever it is it must have been what Pikachu was leading him to. Ash hastened his pace and soon entered a clearing. He looked with surprise to see Paul training with his Chimchar. Pikachu looked pleased with himself and pointed to Paul with a smile. It was only then did the electric type notice that Dawn and the others weren't present. "Pika?" But Ash was already walking towards Paul who hadn't noticed them yet.

"So this is where you were?" Ash called out a grin on his face, Paul turned around looking stunned for a moment at the sight of Ash.

"What are you doing here?" he asked questionably, Chimchar stood next to him equally perplexed.

"Beats me." Ash answered simply, looking around the area. Paul glared at him from the response. "Hey this is a really awesome training area." Ash commented impressed. Paul replaced his confusion with annoyance; he wasn't pleased that his rival interrupted his training session.

"Okay, how did you find me?"

"Pikachu led me here." Ash said throwing his thumb back at Pikachu who had given up looking for everyone else and was currently trying to grab for a apple. "I'm not sure why, but there must be a reason." Ash shrugged, "Maybe it's to say good bye."

"Good bye?" Paul asked, he blinked. "You guys are leaving today?"

"I thought you knew." Ash replied. Paul obviously didn't from the blank look on his face. He sighed, it must have seemed rather rude to not say good bye to guests when they leaved. Although he would have never even considered that before, since when did he start to consider being polite to the dweebs.

"Ah, whatever. You guys are finally out of my house." Paul muttered, Ash shook his head.

"Yeah, I expected something like that." Ash got up and turned to leave, "I guess I'll head back, see you at the championships." Ash called out.

"Get you eight badges first." Paul grunted rolling his eyes. Ash grinned in amusement before turning his back. Suddenly a powerful blast smashed in between Ash and Paul sending both boys to the ground. They both looked up wildly wondering where the blast came from. In the sky was a large Salamance flying straight towards them with a luminous figure standing on top of it. Both of their eyes clouded with anger and shock as they recognized the figure heading towards them.

"Hunter J." They said simultaneously.

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So, yeah things get interesting after this. Hang tight the next chapter will pretty much fill in all the loose ends from this chapter like why Paul keeps counting down days and what Hunter J has to do with anything. Please Review!


	14. Hunter J Drops By

Yes, I updated! Why is Hunter J suddenly appearing? Well here is your answer, sort of. Just keep reading and if you get confused bite your tongue and keep going. And if you are still confused, eh I'm sure everything will be cleared up next chapter. But go off and enjoy for now!

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Paul and Ash watched as Salamence landed in front of them with its sinister trainer riding on top with an evil smile. Ash wasn't exactly pleased that Hunter J was here, but he was mostly confused. It seemed kind of random, but a simple glance at Paul showed the boy to be furious at the sight of the woman. Ash didn't know how Paul knew her, but it was curious seeing the boy get so visibly mad at Hunter J. Paul might be a jerk but he had true morals, still Ash wouldn't think Paul would get so angry just looking at her.

"Well, would you look at that?" Hunter J grinned, "The very Pokémon I came looking for is right here in front of me. How sweet of you to get him ready for me?" She stared straight at Chimchar who took a step back in fear.

"I thought we agreed I have more time!" Paul yelled.

"How ignorant do you think I am?" Hunter J started, "I saw straight through your plan. You were going to pretend to capture another Chimchar to give me to me when instead you were training your Pokémon to defeat me. You didn't have a chance to begin with, but I decided to end your misery quickly." Paul growled at the response while Ash was left in the dust utterly confused as to what was happening.

"Salamence lets have some fun." She said, "Flamethrower." The large dragon spewed the flames sweeping everywhere and causing the two trainers to scatter.

Ash barely missed the blast of fire from Salamence and managed to hide behind a rock. He glanced over at Paul to see the boy in a similar situation except his concentration was solely on Hunter J. The raven haired boy could hardly comprehend the situation. Obviously there was something going on between the two causing conflict. Although Hunter J appearing was enough of a conflict, there was a specific reason why Paul was angry she was here. All Ash could figure out was that Chimchar, and maybe even his own Pokémon were in danger and he would not let that happen. Determined Ash reached into his pocket for a poke ball.

Paul gritted his teeth as the scorching fire flew mere feet away from him. He had his hand clenched around Gliscor's poke ball but at the moment there was no way he could counter. Chimchar was sitting next to him, eyes filled with fear and trying not to look at the powerful flame attack. Paul glanced at his frightened Pokémon and wasn't sure what to say. Usually he would yell at the fire Pokémon to snap out of it and stop acting like a weakling. However, Paul understood why Chimchar was afraid and was reluctant to berate the Pokémon for it. Especially at this moment, he would have to leave his harshness behind for now.

"Look I know you're scared." Paul started; Chimchar looked up at his trainer startled by the gentle tone. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you or anyone else" He tightened his grip on Gliscor's poke ball to emphasize his point, Paul's face hardened with a determined look. He then gave Chimchar a serious stare, but not his usual cold one. "You are going to have to trust me."

"Did he find them?" Dawn asked anxiously. Staraptor had been trying to find where Ash and Pikachu had wandered off and the rest of the group was completely unaware of the predicament the raven haired boy was currently in. But Dawn was getting worried as the minutes ticked by; it shouldn't have taken this long to find them considering the distances Staraptor could observe in seconds. Reggie's face scrunched up confused as to why they hadn't found them yet.

"Staraptor can't find them at all. He's checked all of Veilstone and the outskirts of the city. It's like they disappeared." Reggie replied running a hand through his hair. The comment didn't help at all with alleviating Dawn's concern.

"Maybe they went further than that." Dawn offered but Reggie shook his head immediately.

"They couldn't cover that kind of distance in such a short time. Besides why would Ash go so far away without you guys? It doesn't make any sense at all."

"Why do I have a feeling that the two of them got emerged in something dangerous?" Brock questioned wearily. Dawn couldn't help but agree, something was going on but she obviously didn't have any idea.

"Ash was following Pikachu who randomly ran off." Reggie said out loud, "But he didn't just run off, he wanted us to follow him."

"But Ash was the only one who managed to follow him." Brock pointed out.

"Right, but I'm pretty sure Pikachu wanted all of us to follow. So where exactly would Pikachu want to take all of us that was so urgent." Reggie asked. Dawn considered this, where was Pikachu trying to take them that was so important? An idea occurred to her but it seemed too ridiculous to even bring up. But maybe it would help.

"What if it isn't somewhere, but someone?" Dawn asked feeling a little silly at where she was going. Reggie turned to her, a hand on his chin.

"So Pikachu was taking us to see someone, any ideas?" Reggie directly questioned Dawn who blushed lightly. She scratched the back of her head, why did everything always trace back to _him_?

"I think he was trying to take it us to Paul." Dawn huffed she looked up to see Reggie and Brock's face brighten.

"Hey that makes sense; we were wondering where he was this morning. Pikachu must have overheard us talking about Paul and thought we were trying to find him." Brock said, things making sense now.

"But that doesn't explain where Ash and Pikachu are and why we can't find them from the air." Dawn stated, but as soon as the words left her mouth Reggie's eyes widened. He smiled as realization hit him.

"I know exactly where they are!" Reggie exclaimed and ran off in a certain direction prompting Dawn and Brock to follow him although completely bewildered at what was happening.

Dawn was now behind Reggie and Brock and was trying to keep up. Reggie had explained that when Paul was a kid he had found a secret training spot where flying types couldn't find him because the trees blocked it. He would go there whenever he wanted to be left alone. And even though Reggie now knew where it was he would always leave Paul alone when he wanted to go there.

Suddenly Dawn felt her leg being jerked back pulling the rest of her body to the ground. "Ow!" she muttered. She looked behind her to see what she had caught her foot in and was surprised to see nothing. Dawn glanced around; there was nothing she could have tripped on.

"Dawn? Where'd you go?" called out Brock from up ahead.

"Uh, hold on. I'll be there in a minute." She answered before carefully getting up; Dawn hesitantly looked back still inquisitive. She looked around quickly and raised her hand in front of her. She reached out expecting her hand to collide with something. Dawn kept going for a few more inches before releasing her held breath.

"Well that's a relief." Dawn laughed at her silliness.

"Dawn!" Brock shouted surprising her enough to make her fall forward and slam against a hard metal substance. Dawn rubbed her head rapidly in pain, her head was now pounding. She looked up and still saw nothing. She reached out again but this time her hand was stopped by a barrier, she pressed her palm against it firmly. It felt cool and very hard, it wasn't a barrier but it had to be something.

"Watch out!" Ash yelled ad he dived into Paul and Chimchar crashing the two teens into the rock they were hiding behind. Paul and Chimchar hadn't seen it coming and were left coughing from the dust and with a large mass pressing against them.

"Get off me you idiot!" Paul shouted shoving the raven haired teen away from him violently. Ash complied and rubbed his head which had smacked against the rock. Paul then noticed Pikachu beside him looking intently at the Salamence continually spewing out fireballs.

"What do you think you're doing?" Paul asked with a low growl snapping towards Ash, "Why haven't you left yet?" Ahs shot him a crazy look.

"Are you kidding? That lady over there is going to try and steal Pokémon, I'm not going to sit here and let her." Ash responded angrily at the thought of innocent Pokémon being kidnapped. Paul sighed knowing that he couldn't shake Ash when a criminal was trying to steal Pokémon.

"Fine, but you didn't have to jump over here and potentially expose yourself."

"I just wanted to clear up two things, what exactly is going on between you and Hunter J?"

"Well-" Paul was interrupted when the rock they were hiding behind was suddenly smashed. Ash and Paul looked up with wide eyes to see a large Salamence glaring at them with Hunter J smirking on top of it.

"I've given you two enough time to chit-chat." She said, "Enough is enough, I don't have time to waste playing games. Hand over the Chimchar and I'll leave you be."

"Like hell that's going to happen." Ash yelled, "Pikachu thunderbolt!" Pikachu didn't hesitate and immediately shocked the large dragon type, leaving both the Pokémon and its trainer stunned for a few seconds long enough for Ash and Paul to put some distance between them and call out their Pokémon. Pikachu scurried towards Ash just as he released his poke ball to let out Aipom. Paul also managed to get Torterra and Gliscor out as well. By this time Hunter J and Salamence had recovered and weren't happy by the attack.

"You brats will regret that, Salamence Dragonbreath!" Hunter J hissed. The blue dragon directed the attack straight towards the pair of Pokémon in front of it. Aipom bounced out of the way of the attack as Gliscor soared to side before heading straight back at the larger Pokémon.

"Gliscor X-scissor!" Paul called out. Gliscor sent out the attack inflicting some damage on Salamence who winced from the assault.

"Pikachu thunderbolt!" Ash commanded electrocuting Salamence and also accidently getting Gliscor as well.

"Ash!" Paul whipped around glaring at the boy who looked flustered from his blunder. "Watch it! You're lucky Gliscor is a ground-type, why don't you just stay out of the way." He growled but ten stopped, Ash smirked brightly and pointed a finger towards Salamence who was unable to move from the electricity coursing through its body. Hunter J looked astonished after realizing that her Pokémon was now paralyzed.

"See!" Ash said proudly, "That was part of my strategy; I know that Gliscor is a ground type."

"Of course you did." Paul interrupted sarcastically.

"And so I told Pikachu to send an extra powerful thunderbolt while Salamence was distracted from Gliscor's attack." Ash continued.

"Good for you."

"But we need to better strategize if we are going to win this double battle Paul."

"What? This isn't a double battle, that crazy woman is trying to steal my Pokémon. We have no time to strategize. This is survival Ash, not a freaking battle!"

"I still think it would be nice if we had a plan." Ash sniffed indignantly. Paul looked about ready to explode.

"I hope you two don't mind if I interrupt." Hunter J barked standing next to her instead of Salamence was a menacing Ariados. "Spider Web!"

The bug Pokémon sent out a large sticky goo web out. Aipom and Gliscor both dodged the attack easily. Unfortunately Ariados wasn't aiming at the Pokémon at all; instead he directed the attack straight at their trainers. Ash and Paul both found themselves trapped barely able to move with the gooey substance on top of them.

"Ugh, this stuff is disgusting!" Ash shouted, "I can't move at all."

"That's what it supposed to do; Gliscor cut this stuff off, X-scissor!" Paul called for his Pokémon. Gliscor headed towards his trainer about to cut the web when he suddenly was sent withering to the ground in pain from a sudden psychic attack.

"I'm not letting you off that easily." Hunter J laughed. "Ariados poison jab!" the spider Pokémon violently stabbed the hurt ground type not only severely damaging it but also ejecting poison into Gliscor's body efficiently knocking out the Pokémon. Aipom was quick to respond and attacked the Ariados with a double hit. Hunter J, however, still had her sights on Gliscor.

"This Gliscor is pretty strong, it would sell for a quite penny for any willing buyer." She grinned evilly as Paul's eyes widened in horror. She then pressed a button on a strange looking watch device on her arm which lit a small bulb on the device. Hunter J grinned and turned her attention to her Ariados who was currently fighting both Pikachu and Aipom at the same time.

"Ariados poison jab on that purple monkey!" Hunter J commanded. The bug type quickly jabbed Aipom poisoning the Pokémon and sending it to the ground.

"Aipom!" Ash cried unable to do anything as the Pokémon struggled trying to get up.

"Chimchar, get in there and help." Paul commanded. Chimchar had been watching the battle frozen in fear. Unsurely the fire type looked at Paul. "I told you right?" Paul said harshly. "I won't let anything happen, I promise. Now go and fight!" he quickly stated. Chimchar nodded his head determined and joined Pikachu trying to battle Ariados.

"I have no idea what it is, but it's invisible!" Dawn explained to Reggie and Brock who were looking puzzled at the statement. "Look, see!" she exclaimed as she pressed her hand down on what appeared to be nothing but obviously was some hard metal object.

"I wonder how big it is." Brock said with a frown.

"How about a better question like what it could be?" Dawn added.

"And why someone would want to hide it." Reggie pointed out as the biggest concern. They all stared at where they thought said object was when suddenly a very blurry outline of an object started appearing. Wide-eyed and confused they slowly saw the outline fill in until they could easily see a very large ship in front of them. Dawn was struck with the familiarity of the ship.

"This is..."

"This is Hunter J's ship!" Brock cried in shock.

"Hunter J?" Reggie asked. "Who is that?"

"She is a criminal." Dawn growled, "She steals Pokémon and sells them illegally for money. Simply put Hunter J is a cold-hearted scumbag." Reggie was surprised at how angry Dawn got at the thought of the woman. Brock frowned at the ship.

"If her ship is here than that means she is close by and might be trying to capture more Pokémon." Brock said horrified at the thought. Reggie and Dawn looked scared at the suggestion. But before anyone could respond the ship started shaking until it opened a door in the front and rolled out a large dock. The trio blinked wondering what was happening and suddenly heard a rumbling sound. A strange looking car rushed out of the ship and onto the ground, Reggie, Dawn and Brock had to run out of the way to avoid it as it raced away leaving the ship open.

"What in the world was that?" Brock asked. Dawn got off the ground and dusted her skirt before looking at where the car had gone.

"I don't know but whatever that car thing was it is probably going off to where Hunter J is right now!" Dawn jumped at the thought, "We should follow it to lead us back to Hunter J."

"No wait," Reggie said stopping her, "I have a better idea. You said this Hunter J collects Pokémon to sell, right? Well that means that there are probably captured Pokémon in the ship right now. We can free those Pokémon now, and wait for Hunter J to come back here." Dawn and Brock nodded in agreement.

"Well I guess we should just head in." Dawn said unsurely walking up the dock into the ship followed by Brock and Reggie. As they entered cautiously, making sure that no one else was there, they noticed the bland hallways made of metal.

"This place needs a makeover." Dawn wrinkled her nose in distaste. They continued through the ship checking rooms and trying to find where they held all the captured Pokémon. But the ship was large and confusing.

"How do we find them without wasting our time checking all the doors in the ship?" Brock asked, unfortunately no one had an answer. Dawn looked around the hallway at some of the rooms; she noticed that one of the rooms they hadn't checked had a keypad next to it.

"Wouldn't J lock up the Pokémon?" Dawn asked her answer was met with nods. "Well then we should check the doors that only have keypads." As they reached the first key pad the trio looked at each other wondering how to unlock the door. Dawn smiled at a sudden idea; she popped out one of her poke balls.

"Pachirisu, come on out!" the cute electric Pokémon bounced out of its poke ball excited for no particular reason.

"Pachirisu use discharge on the keypad!" she commanded.

"Dawn are you sure that's a-"but before Brock could finish he felt electricity running through him. He shook his head to see that not only was the door open but that everyone else had become charred and Dawn's hair was ruined.

"I hate to say I told you so but…" Brock decided to shut up at the girl's ensuing glare.

"I opened the door didn't I." she mumbled recalling her Pokémon and hastily trying to fix her hair. Reggie continued forward and was aghast at the sight of the frozen Pokémon in the room.

"How awful." Reggie muttered shaking his head in disgust. Dawn and Brock couldn't help but agree.

"Let's release these Pokémon guys." Dawn suggested, the boys agreed and proceeded to let each Pokémon out quickly.

"Try using Irontail!" Ash called out to Pikachu who was still trying to battle with Aipom against Ariados.

"How will that work?" Paul snapped.

"You just concentrate on getting us out of this sticky mess." Ash growled. Paul shook his head.

"First if all I can't believe you just did a pun joke in this situation, and second you should know that I've already tried! I think we should switch jobs. Chimchar flamethrower!" the fire Pokémon sent out a blast of fire swallowing the bug type in powerful flames and causing major damage. Hunter J gritted her teeth in anger. Paul was about to finish the spider off when suddenly a car appeared out from the forest. Ash's face drained of all color.

"Paul that's what she uses to capture Pokémon, we have to get out of this!" Ash yelled desperately. Paul turned to see Hunter J go to the car and seemed to be retrieving something. The purple haired boy turned to Chimchar.

"Quick Chimchar use your flames to burn this stuff off!" Paul said. Chimchar's eyes widened and shook his head firmly against the idea. Paul growled impatiently.

"I know it will hurt me, that doesn't matter! You have to do it, now!" Paul yelled strictly trying to convince the fire type. "It's the only way to escape out of this thing. Chimchar still looked hesitant and was nervously flickering his gaze from his trainer to the ground. Hunter J had now put on a large device on her arm and was headed straight towards Gliscor.

"Paul, hurry up!" Ash muttered getting anxious with wide eyes.

"Chimchar!" Hunter J lifted her arm at Gliscor tantalizingly slow. "Do it now!"

Chimchar let out a burst of flame scorching the sticky substance into dust and also burning Paul and Ash's skin painfully. Paul didn't even blink and instantly rushed forward to Gliscor right as Hunter J had pointed the device straight at the Pokémon. Paul covered Gliscor with his body protecting the Pokémon as a laser blasted into his back. Paul shouted in pain from collision but stood firm not even thinking of getting up.

"Stupid boy." Hunter J grunted as she stopped the beam. Paul weakened from the beam shakily tried getting up. He retrieved his poke ball and recalled Gliscor.

"You did great Gliscor." Paul muttered quietly, Ash looked surprised at the praise Paul had just given but quickly adverted his attention to Aipom in order to recall him before Hunter J got the normal type. Paul turned to Hunter J with a dark glare on his face.

"I told you last time, I'm not going to give up my Pokémon!" he snarled his hand resting on the nasty burns covering his arms. "If you dare try to capture them I will pulverize you!" Paul rose to his feet and turned to Chimchar still angry.

"Next time don't falter at my command." He spat before turning up back at J. "She's ruthless and I can't afford any more mistakes."

"Pikachu thunderbolt!" Ash called out, Pikachu followed up the command with a quick attack finishing off the spider Pokémon. Hunter J turned to her Pokémon outraged.

"I can't believe I'm getting beaten by a bunch of annoying urchins!" she yelled frustrated as she recalled her Pokémon. She looked at Paul hatefully, "If you think that this is going to stop me from getting your precious Chimchar then you're sadly mistaken." Paul kept silent at the comment and glanced at Ash who shook his head. He reached into his pocket to retrieve Torterra; Ash didn't have any more Pokémon. All he had left was Pikachu, and all Paul had was Chimchar. Paul had trained Torterra for this moment, he had to bring his starter Pokémon out and end this now.

"Torterra come on out!" the enormous Pokémon suddenly appeared; he stomped on the ground powerfully as an entrance. Hunter J's eyes gleamed at the sight of the glorious grass Pokémon.

"Alright then," she grinned and threw out two poke balls. Drapion and Salamence both appeared. Drapion roared a full strength and ready to battle, while Salamence still looked a bit weary from the paralysis.

"Drapion Giga Impact on that pesky mouse!" Hunter J called. The combo poison/dark Pokémon rushed forward with such tremendous force that Pikachu didn't stand a chance. Ash ran forward to pick up his fainted Pokémon before Hunter J could potentially capture him. Right after the attack Chimchar lurched forward to confront Drapion bravely. Paul had his sights set on Salamence.

"Torterra leaf storm." Paul commanded, and with a flurry of bladed leaves Torterra managed to heavily damage Salamence. Unfortunately, Paul was too busy watching Salamence to pay attention to its trainer who was smirking at Torterra.

"We can finish this." Paul yelled, "Frenzy Plant!" The monstrous vines erupted from the ground slamming into Salamence and easily knocking it unconscious.

"Well that was easier than I thought." Paul frowned. Hunter J took her opportunity and shot her beam straight at Torterra. Before Paul could realize what was happening Torterra froze solid and was suddenly covered in a brown substance. Swiftly from the car a disk like machine flew underneath the grass Pokémon and instantly a glass dome appeared around it.

"Torterra!" Paul shouted as the machine zoomed the Pokémon back to the car. He ran towards the car immediately afterwards. Hunter J tried stopping him but was unexpectedly tackled by Ash. She screamed at raven haired boy who refused to let go and proceeded to yank at her light purple hair.

Dawn continued searching the ship to see if they were any more Pokémon on board while Brock and Reggie led the ones already released off the ship, but she appeared to be lost. All the hallways looked exactly the same; it wasn't very helpful at all. She finally reached a door at the end of the hallway that she hadn't checked yet. She stepped forward and the doors slide open. Dawn was stunned as she found herself in the control room. It was very large and had a big window at the front. Well, at least she knew where she was.

Curious now, Dawn examined all the controls over the room finding all the buttons fascinating. But a sudden beeping sound made her squeak in shock and turn around to find no one behind her. Dawn then saw that the beeping sound was coming from a telephone looking machine; she should have probably left it alone. Dawn shook her head and walked towards the door prepared to leave. But the beeping was so _enticing_. It could have been an important message that would help arrest Hunter J; Dawn could be like a spy! The idea excited her too much and she abandoned her conscious and pressed the button she assumed would answer the call. The beeping stopped and Dawn suddenly became nervous.

"Um, hello?" she paused a moment as she was met with silence.

"Who is this?" a loud, obnoxious male voice asked rudely. Dawn frowned at the tone of the man's voice.

"Who are _you_?" Dawn retaliated.

"I believe I asked you first." The man snapped.

"You're the one who called here. Shouldn't you know that you're calling Hunter J?" Dawn answered smugly, "I happen to be her secretary."

"Since when does J have a secretary?" the man asked wildly.

"Since when did you care?" Dawn smiled as she could practically hear the man fuming on the other side. "Would you like to answer my first question, sir?" She could hear angry muttering on the line.

"I'm client 563." He said begrudgingly, Dawn raised her eyebrows at the number. J must have her clients labeled by number for confidentiality. "I'm here to discuss the arrangements for when I retrieve the Chimchar I requested."

Dawn pondered silently to herself; she didn't remember seeing a Chimchar when they released those Pokémon from before. That was probably the Pokémon she was searching for right now. Dawn couldn't help the creeping thought that Paul had a Chimchar, but she shook away the thoughts.

"Ah, yes. Continue." Dawn said.

"We are going to have to push the meeting date. I will be ready for the Pokémon in about two weeks at Sunyshore. We'll be meeting at the secret location there." The man informed her in a bored voice. Dawn memorized the information; after all they'd be headed in Sunyshore. This information could be useful later on.

"Alright then I'll inform Hunter J as soon as possible." Dawn replied happily, "Where exactly is the secret location we will meet at?"

"Seriously? J didn't tell you about the secret meeting places in each city?"

"No."

"Hn, tough luck. Just do your job and tell her." And with that the man hung up leaving a slightly mad Dawn. She sighed and decided that some information was better than no info at all. She supposed that she should now find Reggie and Brock and tell them what she learned. As she entered the hallway, however, she saw Reggie and Brock headed straight towards her, rather quickly as well.

"Hey guys you wouldn't believe what I just found out." Dawn exclaimed happily but frowned as the pair didn't slow down.

"Dawn, run!" Brock yelled. Dawn cocked her head befuddled.

"Why?" she asked, but she found her answer as two men appeared at the end of the hallway.

"There are more of these pests!" one of the men shouted. Dawn's eyes widened and she chased after Reggie and Brock. After several hallways, and dead-ends Reggie managed to find the opened dock from before. The trio jumped off the ship, looking behind them to see if the men from before were following them.

"Did you get all of the Pokémon out?" Dawn asked.

"I think so." Reggie said warily watching the ship. Dawn looked at where Reggie was staring at.

"I didn't know there were people in there." Dawn commented.

"Neither did we." Brock and Reggie both answered monotone. While they were outside of the ship the dock started pulling back up and the opening closed shut. A few seconds later the ship started lifting in the air slowly. Soon the ship zoomed forward.

"Reggie?" Dawn asked cautiously. "Please tell me that Paul's secret training spot is in the other direction." Reggie gave a worried sigh unable to alleviate anyone's concern.

Paul frantically searched the capsule device searching for a way to get Torterra out. Buttons were lined up at the bottom and he pushed every single one unable to decipher one from another. He was getting aggravated as it seemed that none of them were working until he heard a hiss sound like air escaping. He looked up hopefully to see the capsule opening and Torterra returning to his original color. Paul released his held in breath in relief. Torterra blinked and turned to his trainer, happy to see Paul. The grass type nudged his head against Paul's leg, a rare sign of affection that Paul would let pass at this moment. Right now, he didn't care.

"I can't stand this anymore!" Hunter J threw Ash off her back when she saw her second attempt to capture a Pokémon failed. She glared at the boy who was now defenseless. J searched for her Drapion who was still battling Chimchar furiously.

"Drapion dragon pulse!" she shouted pointing at Ash who grew fearful at the command. Drapion didn't hesitate to fire the attack at the trainer. Luckily Ash was pushed out of the way in time by Paul who had rushed over to his rival. Ash blinked in surprise at Paul's action.

"Uh…thanks, Paul." Ash said before grinning brightly.

"Don't mention it." Paul grunted.

"Yeah, but you know I never expected to be saved by-"

"I'm serious, don't mention it. Last thing I need is people knowing that I had a chance to get rid of you and I didn't want it to happen." Paul gave him a quick glance, "Can't let my rival lose against anyone but me." He muttered, eyes narrowing. Ash couldn't help but feel proud that Paul finally acknowledged him as a rival, but he really didn't have time to relish the moment.

"Dragon Pulse again!" This time Drapion sent a larger blast aimed at both the trainers. Ash and Paul closed their eyes wincing in anticipation of the attack. A few seconds later and they opened their eyes to see Torterra standing in front of them firmly, taking the attack directly. Ash laughed, thrilled at escaping potential harm for the tenth time today.

"Yeah, you go Torterra!" he cheered.

"Torterra." Paul whispered softly, pride thumped in him at the sight of his Pokémon's loyalty. As the attack finally ended Hunter J looked infuriated, she pressed down on a button on her arm muttering angrily into it.

Torterra was now badly damaged from the attack but glared at the dragon type courageously. But before Torterra could make a move Chimchar came out of nowhere with a powerful flame wheel and slammed into Drapion. Paul, Ash, and Torterra watched in amazement as tiny Chimchar fiercely attacked the larger Pokémon. Within a couple of seconds Drapion looked exhausted. Chimchar glanced at Paul for a split second; Paul got the hint pretty quick.

"Finish it off with a flamethrower!" Paul said allowing Chimchar to use one last powerful fire attack to knock out Hunter J's last Pokémon. She stood shocked at how a simple mission for a fire Pokémon had ended up failing so badly. J shook her head defiantly; she refused to go down like this.

Ash was still smiling at the supposed win when he noticed a large object in the sky. At closer inspection he saw that it was Hunter J's ship. Ash was confused, was she going to try and retreat. Hunter J then pointed her arm at Torterra catching everyone off guard.

"I'm not leaving empty handed." She announced blasting the beam at the grass type. Paul was too far away to do anything, and he could only watch in horror as the beam headed straight toward the Pokémon. He had just saved Torterra. After all of that, was he still going to lose his starter Pokémon after all?

Right before the beam could hit Torterra; however, Chimchar had rushed in the way taking the blast of the beam. His body froze and was covered in a brown substance. Paul's eyes widened at the sight of Chimchar.

" Chimchar!" he yelled and raced forward, but the floating base instantly had appeared and slid underneath Chimchar's frozen body. The glass dome covered the base and before it could fly back to the car Paul managed to catch it. Hunter J swiftly caught the other side pulling it away from him.

"No, I won't let you take him!" Paul shouted angrily grabbing for a tighter hold and soon felt pressure on his torso as Ash was helping pull as well. Hunter J growled and kicked Paul's legs unsuccessfully. Paul barred down pulling harder. He had promised Chimchar nothing would happen, he couldn't give up now. Chimchar was his Pokémon, and he had to fight for him.

"You kids will never learn." And with a sly smile she slammed her foot straight into Paul's burnt arm causing the boy to automatically release his hold from the burst of pain. Paul fell backwards still stinging from the kick on his wound along with Ash and could only watch as Hunter J grabbed onto the rope coming from the ship taking Chimchar with her.

"CHIMCHAR!"

* * *

Yes, yes I am evil. No wait, Hunter J is evil! I'm sorry that Chimchar had to get kidnapped but this is the quickest way to get Paul's soft side out. This chapter was way long, my goodness. Oh by the way while I did watch the Hunter J episodes I don't remember exactly what happened during them, I believe she had a thing on her arm that freezes Pokémon…brown? Yeah, weird. I assumed that the thing doesn't work on humans. I also think her ship can turn invisible, I hope I didn't make that up.

Alright so we're really close to 100 reviews and I encourage all of you to review because I really do enjoy reading all you happy replies to my story. Whoever so happens to be the 100th reviewer will be allowed to ask for a one-shot that will be added on to the end of the chapter. Whatever you want, like Dawn/Paul fluff or a cute family scene with Paul and Reggie. I'd rather it be something concerning Dawn or Paul but whatever you want. I really hope this encourages you all to review. By the way a little hint about what's going to happen next chapter, Dawn and Paul are going to have some alone time! I'd also like to know whether you guys want Maylene to continue being an important character in the story. If not I'll just stop witting her in when the group leaves Veilstone. Alright that's all; sorry this author's note was so long. Review!


	15. Chapter 15

I'm going to say this straight up, I had a lot of difficulty with this chapter. Emotional stuff can be so much harder to write than action and a progressing story line. I'm sorry if Paul seems weird and confusing, but that's what I was trying for. I also kind of rushed through this. Go easy on me!

* * *

Paul glared at the sky wondering why it wasn't raining. It was too sunny, and happy outside. He almost wished that the weather reflected more of what was going on inside of him. Chimchar was literally taken from his hands; he wasn't able to protect his own Pokémon. The same Pokémon who he had trained to exhaustion night and day. The same Pokémon who he promised to protect no matter what. Paul couldn't decide whether he was enraged at J or disgusted with himself.

It wasn't in his nature to get upset, he got angry. He got mad at things, and while he was mad there was something else going inside of him. The pain tugging at his heart hurt so bad, he had almost forgotten how it felt. But instead he was reminded with a huge slam in the face. Paul growled plowing a hand through his shaggy hair unable to comprehend what he was feeling.

Ash leaned against the door frame of the back door watching Paul. The purple haired boy had barely moved from his position on the outside bench, staring hard at the sky with his hands deep in his pockets and his back facing the house. Ash shifted uncomfortably, he couldn't help but feel guilty. He knew it wasn't really his fault, but he couldn't help but think that there had to something else he could have done to stop Hunter J. Something that could have prevented Chimchar's kidnapping. His hand tightened into a fist with anger. Ash was seething at the awful crime J had committed, and yet he couldn't imagine how Paul was feeling. He was suddenly startled as a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Hey Ash," Reggie said gently. "You okay?" Ash sighed turning his attention back to Paul.

"I don't know." He shook his head sadly, "I feel awful for Paul, and I can't help but think that I couldn't have done more."

"I was afraid of that." Reggie said. "Look I wish I could try to talk you out of that silliness, but just remember you and Paul tried your best to save Chimchar. And that it isn't over. Don't start moping now; we still can save Chimchar before he is given to the crummy jerk that paid off J."

"I know," Ash blinked and thought for a moment, "Wait, what about Paul? Did anyone tell him yet?"

"I'll handle that." Reggie said and with an encouraging smile he started walking up to his little brother. Ash watched him and decided to give the brother's some privacy. He closed the door and looked up to find Dawn with a worried expression on her features.

"Hey Ash, how are you feeling?" Dawn asked walking up to him. He gave her a small nod.

"Yeah, I'm fine. See, my burns weren't all that bad. And I dropped Pikachu and Aipom at the Pokémon center not too long ago. Nurse Joy said they would recover fine but that I just need to-"

"Ash." Dawn gently stopped him. "That really isn't what I was talking about."

"I know." He admitted reluctantly. "I just feel…weird." Dawn nodded in agreement following his gaze as they both looked out to see the two brothers.

Paul could tell someone was coming up behind him. Usually when he was in a certain mood he would snarl at anyone attempting to talk to him. But for some reason he was almost thankful that he was sitting outside alone anymore. He wasn't surprised to see his brother sit down next to him. Reggie didn't say anything and just stared up at the sky, waiting.

Paul would have growled at him if he wasn't so upset. Reggie always did this; he never pushed an answer out of Paul. He would either wait patiently for his little brother to come to him, or gently prod him until he talked. And it always worked, despite Paul's several attempts to buck up and go without his older brother's advice. But Paul would eventually come running.

It felt silly now to want his brother's guidance. He was a teenager; he shouldn't need advice from anyone. Yet, he already felt like a young child as he turned to his brother with a painful look on his face. Reggie was still staring at the sky with a calm deposition. Paul sighed and reflected his brother's image before closing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

"Around three weeks ago," Paul started, "I was training Chimchar and got ambushed by Hunter J. She demanded that I give over Chimchar but of course I wasn't going to. So I send out all of my Pokémon to defeat her, and she knocks off all of them." Paul gritted his teeth angrily at the thought. Reggie shifted his eyes towards Paul.

"She's about to steal Chimchar when I make a deal." He sighs before continuing, "I-I said I would find a stronger Chimchar and give it to her instead of mine. I thought she believed me and she left. I was really going to just use the extra time to train so I could beat her."

"That's why you were training so hard the past few weeks." Reggie commented softly. Paul nodded but his face was still contorted in anger.

"But then she jumped me a-and stole Chimchar…she just…stole him from my hands." He clenched his hands as if imaging the scene in his head again. Paul stared at his hands blankly for a moment while Reggie remained quite.

"I just can't understand," Paul whispered with narrow eyes, "I saved Gliscor in the nick of time. I released Torterra when he got captured. And yet I couldn't save Chimchar. I trained for weeks to protect Chimchar and yet she still stole him. I don't get it!" Frustrated he slammed his fists against the wooden bench with a resounding thump. Paul then whipped his head back towards Reggie.

"And don't say this isn't my fault." Paul hissed, "It was my fault. If I had told someone about this, or I had just trained stronger this wouldn't have happened. This was my fault; because of me Hunter J stole Chimchar. Because of me…" he trailed off huffing. His eyes unfocused as he was engulfed with a wave of throbbing sorrow. One second he was angry and the next he felt tremendously sad. Why was he acting so bipolar? He turned to his brother suddenly with wide eyes.

"Why won't you say anything?" he asked.

"I'm trying to let you come out by yourself," Reggie replied, "You were doing a good job."

"But I don't feel better, "he scowled, "How am I doing a good job if I still have these mixed emotions inside of me."

"What kind of emotions are running through you?" Reggie inquired.

"I can't decide whether to lash out on the whole world or sit down in my own misery." Paul answered with heavy sarcasm, or what he thought was sarcasm. Reggie didn't seem to think so. "But how is this supposed to help. Yes I feel angry, and yeah I feel sad. But then what?"

"You tell me Paul."

"I don't want to feel sad anymore, or angry for that matter."

"You think I can fix those feelings?" Reggie had a serious look on his face. Paul faltered at the statement; he paused for a moment trying to think.

"You always do." He responded childishly. He knew it wasn't right, he knew it was a silly answer. But that was what he subconsciously thought. Whenever he talked to his brother, he ended up feeling better. Reggie would say something and make things better whether Paul liked to admit it or not. He had hoped that his older brother would work his magic like he always did. Reggie shook his head slightly.

"I can't do it this time Paul." Reggie gave his little brother a hard look, "You are supposed to be feeling like this. Your Pokémon, one of your partners was taken from you. I know it's an uncomfortable for you to get so upset over something. Since you were a kid you liked responding to things with stoic indifference. And when you weren't able to…"

"You would always help." Paul finished for him in understanding. Reggie nodded slowly before pausing and looking away for a moment.

"I'm sorry Paul but I can't help with this. The only way that pain is going to go away is if you have Chimchar back with you." Reggie gently said. Paul continued to stare vacantly at the ground. Reggie shifted slightly and offered Paul a slight smile.

"There is a way to get Chimchar back." Paul snapped up at the statement with wide eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"We know where Hunter J is going to deliver Chimchar to her client." Reggie responded.

"Where? When? Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Paul started yelling unsure if he was angry or slightly relived.

"Because I needed you to go through what you just did without conflict." Reggie said calmly, "You had to go through the pain of losing a Pokémon without the notion of getting it back." Paul gave his brother a wild look at the statement.

"Why? You want me to suffer?"

"Yes. You needed to suffer to realize how important your Pokémon really are to you." Paul froze at the statement, "If you could only hear yourself. The idea of your Pokémon in real danger, of someone hurting them makes you angry and you feel pain from the situation. You do care for your Pokémon, but you only show that side in the worst situations." Reggie suddenly shook his head.

"Look, I don't want to push this any further. I already know that you are thinking of a strategy of how you plan on rescuing Chimchar. But while you're training your other Pokémon try remembering how much you do care for them." Reggie patted Paul on the back and stood up about to go into the house when he suddenly turned around.

"Two weeks from now Hunter J is going to meet with her client in Sunnyshore." Paul stared back at his brother and gave him a thankful nod which Reggie responded with a small smile. He watched his brother walk back into the house before slumping in his seat. He felt a bit better, but mostly because of the news of where Hunter J was going to be. The fact that Reggie told him he should be mixed up with his feelings didn't really help. However, his logic made sense. He did care for his Pokémon still he wasn't going to suddenly hug all of them in a scene if love.

Paul shook his head, he didn't know what to make of the conversation he had with his brother yet. He still felt strange but he had to once again admit that his consultation with Reggie helped. Paul was still angry, it had dissipated though. He was still infuriated at the mere thought of Hunter J, but he wasn't as mad at himself as before. Paul still blamed himself for the whole incident but now that he knew there was something he could do to save Chimchar he was more filled with determination. Paul raised his hand and rubbed his chest; while his anger was mostly gone that pain was still there.

He got up and decided that taking a shower would ease some of his tension. As he walked inside he saw Ash and Dawn talking in low tones at the kitchen table. They both shot up at his entrance which he responded with a roll of his eyes. Ash rushed towards Paul with a remorseful look.

"Look Paul, I'm sorry I couldn't do more to try and-"

"Save it Ketchum, I don't need your pity." Paul interrupted with a hand raised, his eyes bore down on the chocolate ones seriously, "I need your help. As much as I absolutely _hate_ saying this, I can't do this by myself." He glared angrily at the floor for a moment before looking up with reluctance. "I have to get Chimchar back, so I need you to stop feeling bad about something that wasn't your fault and help me take down Hunter J."

"Right." Ash responded shaking his head with a slight grin. Paul then turned straight to Dawn with the same expression. She was slightly surprised with the reaction but was quick to respond.

"I'll help too, of course!" Paul shook his head and awkwardly looked between the two before proceeding to go upstairs. Dawn saw him go with concern. She turned to Ash.

"I can tell he isn't feeling good at all." Dawn said causing Ash to shake his head in agreement.

"I know it's weird to see him looking so…depressed." Ash commented.

"I feel so bad for him." Dawn frowned.

* * *

Dawn stared out her window unable to fall asleep. She still felt bad for Paul and even worse for Chimchar. At dinner earlier that day he had barely said a word. Not that it was unusual of him to do so, but he usually gave the impression of being bored. That or make fun of her or Ash. Maybe smirks here or there, but at dinner he was absolutely quite refusing to answer anyone or even acknowledge that there was a conversation surrounding him.

In all honesty Dawn wasn't quite sure what to say to him. She had no idea what it felt like to lose your Pokémon in the fashion he did. Would he even want her to comfort him, she could try but she wouldn't be surprised if he scowled and refused to say that he was upset. Paul had a lot of pride and Dawn didn't know if he would be insulted if she tried helping him.

Suddenly there was a sound of a closing door. Slightly confused Dawn leaned closer to the window and saw Paul with poke balls in his hand. Her eyes widened, was he seriously going to train now? Sure he was going to have to get stronger in order to get Chimchar back, but he was just captured today. For some reason Dawn felt like she was going to have to talk some sense into him. She quietly sneaked out of her room and down stairs. But as she opened the back door Dawn realized that Paul wasn't training. She blinked as she saw Paul sitting on the ground with five poke balls sitting neatly in front of him. His head was lowered with his eyes closed.

Dawn froze from her position feeling bad for judging him so quickly. But she was still curious, what was he doing? She gave a quick look around before silently shutting the door and trying to get a closer look. Still unable to comprehend, Dawn was startled when Paul suddenly whipped his head towards her with narrow eyes.

"What are you doing here?"

"I just saw you outside and I-I thought…"

"I was going to train, right?" when she didn't respond he scoffed, "I should have guessed." He stared back at the poke balls in front of him before continuing in a softer tone. "I'm not ready to train yet, last time I did I lost my Pokémon." Dawn felt guilty and was hesitant to say anything at first. But as she further observed his face Dawn could tell he was feeling even worse than she probably was. And how could she blame him. She sighed and took a seat on the ground next to Paul.

"I hope you realize that-"

"This isn't my fault?" he finished for her again. He gave her a cold glare, "In case you didn't know it was my fault. A trainer is always responsible for their Pokémon. Besides I hope you don't mind, but the last thing I need is a pep talk."

"Actually you're wrong, look Paul whether you want to admit it or not but I think you really need someone to talk to." Dawn watched as Paul scowled and turned the other way, "Hey you gave me one, I'd like to return the favor."

"I'll pass." He muttered about to get up when Dawn pushed him back. He turned to her with a questioning look to meet her slightly flustered one.

"Okay fine, forget about the 'pep' part." As he raised his eyebrows she shook her head, and looked back at the poke balls in front of him. "What are you doing with your Pokémon then?"

"Nothing." He quickly answered. Dawn gave him a suspicious look.

"Well you weren't training them, so why do you them all laid out here?" Dawn sighed as he kept shut, "I won't tell anyone if that's what you're worried about."

"Maybe I'm worried about you knowing." He mumbled. Dawn was taken aback by that statement; she gave a small smile before responding.

"I don't judge; just tell me before I annoy it out of you."

"Fine." He looked up at the sky and blew a stream of air. "I was apologizing."

"Apologizing?" she questioned looking at him as he sighed obviously uncomfortable.

"To my Pokémon for losing one of their companions." He growled covering his face, "I know it sounds stupid."

"It doesn't, I think it's kind of endearing. I didn't think you'd be able to see that your Pokémon would miss Chimchar too." She said before thinking for a moment, "But you shouldn't have to apologize for anything."

"We've been through this." He snapped with a quick glance.

"Paul, I might not have been there to see what happened but I know you did everything you could." She started; Dawn gave him a serious gaze. "You need to realize that this is Hunter J's fault. Her fault only."

"I know that, I don't need you to tell me." He retorted leaning back against his palms. Dawn took in his appearance once again, he still look agitated.

"But there is still something that's bothering you." She said gently. "I know that I blabber a lot, but I can be a good listener too." Paul lowered his gaze trying to think. He didn't really want to go off and talk about his feelings to her. He didn't want Dawn to think he was weak or helpless. Yet, he needed to talk through these emotions going inside of him. His eyes soon met with Dawn's and she gave him a encouraging smile. He sighed, he felt comfortable talking to her. Why not?

* * *

Okay, don't get mad at me for stopping here I did so for many reasons. First of all I wanted to update today today since I've been lagging behind lately. Secondly I know all of you love your Dawn/Paul moments so I wanted to dedicate enough time for that in the story. If I tried squeezing the whole conversation into this chapter I was afraid it wouldn't be as good. Just hold on and if i get enough incentive *wink, wink* I might consider updating very soon. Alright, review!


	16. Nighttime Talk

Thanks for all the incentive, and fines…and violent threats. But without them this would have probably come out in a week. Hey guys so I'm really excited, like really excited about the next coming chapters. I started planning the basic storyline and got so caught up into the story that I wrote a chapter that is way ahead of where we are right now. Speaking of which we are currently at the emotional intervention chapter, yay! A emotional and confused Paul alone with a concerned Dawn. What will happen between the two? What sort of feelings will be discussed? Will their simple friendship blossom into something more? Ah, I just got your hopes way up didn't I, sorry! Still though, enjoy!

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"I promised him that nothing would happen. That he would be safe, he trusted me. And I-I…" Paul trailed off painfully. Dawn's heat panged after he had finsihed telling her this, he must have felt terrible. She wasn't sure what to say.

"I feel…"

"Sad?" she offered. He rolled his eyes unbeknown to Dawn.

"Yeah, but it feels like something else. And I can't understand it; I don't know how to describe it. But it sucks." Paul said coldly. "I can't make it go away. I was angry before, but when I learned that we can still rescue Chimchar I cooled down. I was, well am sad but when I have Chimchar back I won't be. I have no idea whether this feeling is going to go away." He turned to Dawn who had dropped her head, seemingly thinking. Paul's eye narrowed was there a chance that she understood what was happening to him. Could she help get rid of this dragging feeling?

"Dawn?" His eyes inclined towards her drooping head which popped up in response. Paul scowled at the look on her face as it returned to the tired expression of pity which he had no patience for. He was fooled, it was sympathy it wasn't empathy. None of which he needed.

Dawn could sense he wasn't happy, he wanted to understand and she could barely have a sample of what he was feeling. How could she understand? So how could she help him, was she really that useless? She could guess, maybe he was regretful. Or worried, or remorseful. There were so many emotions that could be inside of him that he wouldn't be able to familiarize with because he never experienced anything that would cause those feelings to arise. That same situation affected her too. How could she aid with something she didn't even know existed?

"No need to worry." Paul looked up at her at the statement with furrowed brows. She wasn't looking at him her eyes were on the stars. Dawn laughed dryly. "I say that a lot." She hugged her knees closer to her chest.

"I guess worrying is something I don't tend to think about much. Maybe its cause it makes me sad and distressed, so I pretend nothing is wrong. That makes me sound really ignorant, doesn't it?" she didn't expect an answer but was happy to see that she maintained Paul's attention. "But you know it really helps me get through things, plying through a problem without a care. I'm sure you know what I mean."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He answered swiftly looking down. Dawn in turn looked at him quizzically. She kept her smile hidden at his cluelessness.

"You train your Pokémon instilling only the idea that power is the most important thing." She started casually, "And try to ignore the longing stares from your Pokémon for some love." He looked up startled at the declaration and met Dawn's questioning eyes.

"Or after a battle when you have the thought of praising your Pokémon, but push it off as a sign of being weak." Dawn wasn't sure where exactly she was going, but if she was able to make Paul's eyes widen then she had to be getting somewhere.

"My point is that sometimes we both avoid small problems or issues so we don't have to go through the feelings that associate with them. I do it so I don't have to feel sad. You do it so you won't seem weak." Paul stared at her incredibly, it seemed like she pretty much nailed him. He, however, couldn't help but think in the back of his mind what the hell this had to do with anything. But he kept silent only because of the look in her sapphire eyes that had locked in his gaze.

"So, when you evade all those other situations you don't know how to deal with it when it's over. You kind of lose that chance at gaining experience." She whirled her finger in the grass tracing the same circle pattern over and over as her mind continued to think of what to say.

"Now you get hit with a problem so big you can't avoid it. You had to take it straight on and encounter all the feelings that come with it. And you just _can't_ understand what's going on because when you experienced it before in a smaller dose you tried ignoring it. That's why you can't understand." She said the last words slowly and when she finished Dawn felt like smacking her head. She released him from her gaze and dropped her head in her hands. She _was_ useless. Dawn hadn't helped at all, only reaffirmed where he already knew he was. Her eyes flickered to Paul and she was surprised to see him concentrating hard his stare fixed on his hands. His face was lit with, understanding?

"I get it," he said quietly looking up rapidly and in a much louder voice continued. "I can't understand my feelings because I never gave myself a chance to actually feel them before." He blinked and stared curiously at the sky. Was that all there was to it? Paul glanced over at Dawn who was watching him anxiously. As her eyes widened he gave her a small smile.

"Thanks, I still feel the same. But I'm not as confused as before." He paused and gave a frustrated growl, "Still, I need this to go away. I can't think properly with the feeling still inside of me."

"I'm pretty sure it will, eventually. It's definitely connected to Chimchar, when he is back you'll go back to normal." She said. He considered the response; no he wouldn't go back to normal. But that was okay. He kept silent after her statement, thinking about what she said before. Facing his feelings, huh? Didn't sound so hard, but he'd been avoiding them so long he wasn't sure how else to approach them.

Dawn could still tell he was holding back on something. He looked much calmer, but he wasn't completely alright. She sighed; it was hard to blame him for something that was so instinctive now.

"You know Paul," she said gaining his attention. "You're doing it right now. You're trying to evade the feelings inside of you." He frowned at her apparently not understanding.

"How am I doing that?"

"You're sad aren't you?" she asked.

"Kind of, yeah." He bitterly replied, even saying that was difficult. The girl had easily managed to get him to reveal his emotions.

"Well you certainly aren't showing it." Paul took that sentence in for a moment. He then whipped his head to her with a glare set on his features.

"What, do you expect me to cry?" he asked incredulously.

"It'd be a good start." Dawn shrugged. She was serious; she wanted to see him burst into tears. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that defiantly isn't happening." He grunted. Dawn glared at him, pathetically he added to himself, before looking up in thought. She then turned back to him with a defiant look.

"Fine, you don't have to cry. But you have to let your emotions out somehow."

"I just did, remember."

"Those were your confused feelings. Reggie helped you through your angry feelings. So naturally I'm going to now help with your sad feelings." She tapped a finger against her chin, "Since you refuse to cry, how bout we try talking. What do you say?"

"No."

"Oh come on, you had no problem talking to me before."

"That's because I had a problem before, I'm fine now."

"You're in denial!" she accused

"I am not!"

"Yes you are, you just proved it right now."

"By denying that I'm in denial?" he questioned dully.

"See! You just admitted it right now."

"I just admitted that I wasn't in denial."

"Its so obvious you're in denial, you just said it right-

"Stop saying that!" He huffed and glared at her, she sent him a sharp look in return. Nope, she wasn't going to budge. He supposed more talking wouldn't hurt. Paul couldn't believe he was giving in so easily.

"Fine, let's talk." She brightened at his words, "But only to prove that I am fine. Alright go ahead, start a conversation."

"Do you miss Chimchar?" Dawn questioned quickly, Paul's eyes glazed over immediately_. Dang it, she hit me on the first sentence_. Of course he did, but missing Chimchar meant thinking about Chimchar and that would lead to him breaking down and…

His eyes widened in realization. She was right; he was avoiding his feelings right now. That thought hadn't even occurred to him before. But he was trying to forget about missing Chimchar so he wouldn't get even sadder and potentially do something that would make him weak.

"I-I miss him, yeah." He managed to breathe out. Dawn's face softened as she could see him struggle. But she knew he had to go through this.

"What do you miss about him?" at this question Paul shut his eyes. Dawn edged closer to him careful not to get too close though. Just far enough where he could reach out to her, just in case.

"Um, he was always wanted to get better. He never gave up and kept trying no matter how hard it got." Paul opened his eyes and looked up. "Or how hard I was on him." He then did the unexpected, he started smiling.

"He was always happy. Managed to find something to be glad about, whether a small victory or a large one. Liked getting excited about that kind of stuff." He stopped and Dawn had a feeling he wouldn't be able to say more. It was a good start, but she couldn't help but think that it wasn't enough. They both stayed like that for awhile.

Dawn's head rose slightly as she felt light drops of water against her skin. The soft patter of the rain soon overwhelmed the silence of the night. She blinked before turning her attention back to Paul who had had also inclined his head back to stare at the falling rain. His smile had retreated back into an expressionless look. She watched quietly as the drops slid down his face.

"Now it rains." He muttered. Dawn cocked her head at the statement but held her tongue only because it looked like Paul seemed ready to say something. But she sat there for awhile waiting for him to speak, he didn't. She frowned glancing up at the sky, almost hoping to catch a glimpse of the stars. She couldn't, the rain made things too blurry. Dawn had been sure that after all that talking and when he finally decided to confess what was bothering him that he would react in some way. He still needed to let out his emotions somehow. It wasn't healthy to keep these things bottled in all the time. Dawn would have told him this too if she wasn't afraid that she'd pushed him too far from his comfort zone already.

Dawn sighed and looked back at Paul. He was in the same position as before just looking up and having the downpour dampen his face. Traces of water kept streaking his face. Dawn's eyes widened slightly looking closer at the boy. Was he crying or was that the rain?

She couldn't tell, and it was so tempting to just lick one of the drops and hope to taste salty liquid. Dawn blushed at the thought but was kind of serious. Crying made things better, it was as simple as that. Then again it was hard to imagine Paul crying. The usually stone faced boy rarely cracked a smile, but Dawn could make a convincing argument that he was crying. And another equally qualified one saying he wasn't.

She supposed in the end it didn't matter, as long as he felt better he could do whatever the hell he wanted. And if that meant sitting out here in the rain under now soaked clothes, then she'd sit along with him. Although, really skirts were not meant to be in the rain for more than a minute.

"Sorry." She heard him whisper, Dawn turned her head at the sound of the voice. He had lowered his head but his hair was blocking any attempts of having eye contact with him. Dawn wouldn't be surprised if that's how he wanted it.

"You don't have to sit here with me. You can go back inside if you want." He offered, Paul's voice sounded strange. She observed him for a moment before his head turned up meeting her eyes. Dawn blinked at the look inside of the purple orbs.

"It depends." She started softly, "Do you want me to leave?" She could barely hear a sigh escape his lips as he broke off their connection.

"That's what I don't know." He responded. "If you keep sitting here with me I'm afraid that you'll slowly talk all my feelings out of me. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not."

"It could be." She said lightly. In truth she didn't know whether he was ready for that. It was not in his personality to break down in one night. Even if he would let her do so, she doubted she could. Not yet, he was still Paul. He liked being indifferent and strong, and whether unconsciously or not he would hold down to that attitude. No, it was enough she thought. He truly seemed better, actually better. Baby steps, she reminded herself.

And with that thought in mind she stood up in the drizzle and stretched slightly. Dawn turned to Paul, his eyes on her the whole time. She smiled at him and extended her hand. He looked at it curiously for a second before accepting it. As he got up she reluctantly released their grasp and tentatively rubbed the back of her head.

"I hope I helped." She said shyly. He looked at her questionably. Now she is nervous. She didn't bother prodding and pushing him till he admitted what was bothering him. Demanding that he face his feelings aggressively. And now she considers whether any of it was helpful? Really, she was defiantly a strange one. He smirked at the thought and shook his head before heading to the door. Dawn wasn't very happy with that response.

"What's that supposed to mean? Hey I'm talking to you!" she started rambling and didn't seem to notice that he had stopped at the doorway. Dawn bumped into his back, and stumbled a few steps.

"Watch it!" she nosily complained. And before she knew what was happening Paul had turned around and enveloped her in a very brief hug. Dawn froze at the touch of his hands and could feel her entire body heat up in the process. How ironic? As he released her she stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Uh, I-I…why?" she squeaked out. He frowned slightly and looked up thinking.

"I don't know. I had an _urge_ to hug you," he shrugged, "so I did. Thanks again." He patted her on the shoulder, much too casually for just hugging her two seconds ago, and proceeded to go inside. Dawn waited a few seconds, trying to remember the moment. As she slowly closed the door and went back up the stairs she had decided, with a smile tugging on her lips, that the hug was much too short for her liking.

* * *

Is that fluffy enough? I hope I didn't just push that last part in. I also really hope I didn't write Paul out of character too much. Emotional Paul is difficult to deal with; I think I did a pretty good job with it though. So about whether or not he cried, well did he? That's for you to decide, I actually want to know whether you guys think he did or not. Did you all like the part where I tried to lighten the mood? Well I guess tried is the key word in that last question. And it will be the key word in this next one. I will _try_ to update in two days, but no promises. Okay? Alright, review!


	17. Chapter 17

Alright so I know that its been a while since I updated, and I'm sorry. But honestly I barely had time to update this chapter, the end of school is...time consuming. I'm sorry this chapter is short, but enjoy!

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Paul closed his eyes trying earnestly to tune out the noise surrounding him. He was used to traveling alone, his Pokémon would stay in their poke balls and there would be silence. He enjoyed silence, it kept him calm and right now he needed to be relaxed. While his conversation with Dawn had helped him, he still felt a little weird. But at this moment he really wished that Dawn and everyone else would shut up. He gritted his teeth and glared at the members of his little traveling group. He had only agreed to join Ash's group because they already had plans to go to Sunyshore and he needed all the help he could get. Then of course his brother decided he had to come along to, which was initially fine. But Paul forgot how talkative his brother was. Reggie and Brock were in a deep conversation about breeding techniques as they walked right behind Paul. They exchanged details and tips, which was fine and everything if they didn't keep using _Paul's_ Pokémon as examples.

"Like Torterra, you know Paul's Torterra," _Yeah, what other Torterra could they be talking about_, Paul thought bitterly, "If Paul just tried to take care of the vegetation on his back then think of the appeal factor."

"You're right, "Brock added enthusiastically, "Torterra's back is very fertile. Think of all the plants you could grow on it. Torterra would look wonderful!" _What were they talking about gardening, seriously?_ _He didn't plan on using Torterra as his walking garden plot to grow daisies!_ But that wasn't bad enough, no because right in front of him Ash and Dawn were having a lovely conversation themselves. Ash decided that Dawn needed more tips on battling techniques, which again sounded like a perfectly okay conversation that Paul would normally tolerate. But none of these people were normal. Because Ash decided to use his battles against Paul as examples and grossly exaggerated certain details.

"And then Pikachu used a quick attack to escape and then did an absolutely crushing thunder attack on Ursurang. Paul didn't even see it coming!"

"Wow, and so did you defeat Ursurang?" Dawn asked. Ash shrugged at the question.

"Well Paul got lucky and Ursurang accidently used metal claw to deflect the attack, but he got shocked instead!" Paul twitched at the comment that was not what happened. He didn't get shocked by anything, and who accidently uses a metal claw? Paul blinked, a thought occurring to him. Dawn had seen the battle live, why would she need to be recounted the details? It's like they wanted to annoy him, he hated them all.

Paul sighed, he had lost hope awhile ago he tried ignoring everyone but it was getting increasingly difficult. Ash not only continued to blatantly lie in front of Paul, but now decided to use sound effects. Sounds which didn't even match with what he was describing. They were doing all of this on purpose weren't they?

"This seems like a perfect place to set up camp!" Brock exclaimed everyone dropped their bags at once. Paul blinked in confusion.

"Alright Paul make the fire for camp, we'll get the fire wood!" Ash said with a pleasant smile.

"Wait, what?" In an instant everyone else had left leaving Paul in the middle of the forest all alone. He whipped around, no one in sight. _What was going on?_

Dawn peaked from behind a tree to see a frustrated Paul throw wood on the ground. She had to suppress a giggle when she saw him kneel down and try to start a fire with a rock.

"I don't think it was a good idea to tell him we were getting firewood, and then make him start the fire." Brock said behind Dawn towards Ash who rubbed the back of his head at the comment.

"I'm not good at improvisation." He answered blankly. Reggie looked past the two and at his brother who wasn't having any more success than with starting the fire.

"I don't know, I think we're just getting him angrier."

"That's a good thing right, Paul is usually mad all the time right. That means he's back to normal." Ash said brightly, he received a short glare from Dawn.

"No, Paul isn't mad all the time." She thought for a moment, "Just sometimes. He's usually…uh, expressionless."

"An emotionless void."

"Pleasantly indifferent!"

"Pleasant Paul, that's an oxymoron if I ever heard one."

"Are you sure building a fire is the best way to distract Paul from Chimchar's kidnapping?" Brock interrupted with a frown staring back at the purple haired boy. "You know, considering that Chimchar is a fire type."

"We didn't plan this very well did we?" Reggie asked meekly. Everyone else took a look at Paul and noticed him becoming less angry and he dropped the sticks and rocks. He looked up at the sky with a sigh.

"Oh no, he's going to cross the line. Quick do something!" Ash said pushing Dawn from the thick forests and towards Paul.

"Wahhh…" she stumbled as she regained her balance. Dawn looked up to see Paul stare at her strangely. "Uh…"

"You didn't bring any firewood." He pointed out. She looked around quickly, grabbed some sticks off the ground, and threw them at Paul's feet. Paul rolled his eyes but there was a smirk on his face. Dawn joined him on the ground carefully folding her skirt underneath her.

"So, how's it going?" she said cheerfully. He looked at her for a moment before turning back to the stick and rock in his hand.

"I'm feeling better." He gave a glance up at her smiling face, "But I know what you guys are doing."

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You guys are trying to make me feel better; somehow you seem to think that making be angry or annoyed is going to help."

"Well, to be honest we weren't trying to get you mad. Ash was trying to get you thinking about Pokémon battles and…well I'm not sure what Reggie and Brock were going to get you to think with their breeder tips."

"My future in gardening." He mumbled sarcastically under his breath.

"We were hoping to distract you so you wouldn't have to think about…other things." Dawn explained.

"Didn't you tell me just last night not to deny my feelings?" Paul asked.

"Yeah I did. But you shouldn't have to think about all the time." She then looked at him with a interested gleam in her eyes, "By the way what does make you feel happy?"

"Random much?"

"If you're happy, you won't be sad." Dawn frowned for a moment. "That sounded better in my head." Paul hid another smile. He turned back to her though when she had an expecting look on her face.

"What makes me happy?" he repeated, "That's a hard one."

"Only you would say that."

"I'll get back to you on that." He replied.

"Fine. Did we help at all though?" Dawn asked. He raised his eyebrows, she pouted slightly "just a little?"

"Maybe you distracted me, I couldn't think with all the talking. Thanks."

"That's a good thing, that way you can't think of anything else." Dawn shook her head with a firm nod.

"I guess that you guys are doing a good job then. AH!" he threw the stick and stone on the ground. "Don't any of you have a fire Pokémon?" Dawn laughed and rose back up.

"Forget about it, Brock already made lunch. Rice balls, we don't need to heat it up."

"So you guys made me look like an idiot for ten minutes because…"

"It's funny." She finished with a smile before turning back towards the rest of the group in the forest. Paul turned back to where she left watching her with narrow eyes. Well he had one thing that made him happy so far. He slowly followed her.

After eating lunch the group continued on their journey to Sunyshore. When Reggie, Brock, and Ash overheard the conversation between Dawn and Paul they decided to make some helpful suggestions as to what made Paul happy.

"Did you ever collect anything, you know for fun?" Brock asked.

"Gym badges." Paul impassively replied.

"Right…"

"You like battling?" Ash added.

"You mentioned that five times already!" Paul growled.

"When you were a kid you liked baking." Reggie offered.

"Reggie…"Paul glared at his older brother who responded with his characteristic smile. Dawn, however, brightened at the idea. She clapped her hands in excitement.

"Baking?" Ash questioned.

"Baking! Paul I had no idea you liked baking, what exactly do you bake."

"Uh…I broke the eggs for my mom."

"He makes really good strawberry shortcake, his chocolate soufflé his delicious…" Reggie trailed off continuing to list off increasing delectable baking goods.

"Shut up!" Paul hissed.

"Then it's settled, next town we stop it we'll be baking! Can you make poffins? I'm not that great at making poffins, we can make poffins for the Grand Festival. Oh I'm so excited now!" as she continued to think of all the things that they could bake Paul turned to Reggie with a cold glare.

"Oh don't give me that look." Reggie grinned, "I just combined two of your favorite things."

* * *

Next chapter is baking time! I know Paul baking is unlikely...but trust me its better than what I orginally planned. The group will get to Sunyshore in two chapters and the mainplot will resume. Till then I'll have to burden you with mere fluff next chapter. :) REVIEW!


	18. Baking Time

I don't know why, but I really like this chapter! Let's see Paul and Dawn in a room with whipped cream, and strawberries, and hot air…wait, what? You know I was never good at making poffins in the game, they kept burning and they sucked. And I really didn't feel like watching the episode about poffin making so if I'm inaccurate on some aspects, deal with it. Okay? Yay everyone is happy, enjoy!

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"Oh, can't we try it again?" Dawn pleaded.

"No." Paul replied.

"But I really wanted to make the soufflé!" she insisted.

"We already tried it twice, we're moving on."

"Third time's the charm!"

"Not when on the second time the batter explodes before being put in the oven!"

"Oh, so that's what went wrong last time." She said propping a finger against her chin. Paul looked at her incredulously before shaking his head and reaching for another bowl.

The group had finally reached a nearby town and was only a day away from Sunyshore. Dawn took the opportunity to drag Paul to the nearest Pokémon center in hopes of being able to do some baking. She was delighted to find out that the center had a completely built-in kitchen available to all travelers. Dawn was convinced that doing some baking would help Paul feel better; Paul wasn't inclined to agree as much but reluctantly joined her.

Ash decided to go outside for some training, after being reminded that tomorrow he'd probably be facing off for his eight gym badge. The training grounds were right outside the kitchen giving him an ample view of the baking proceedings going on inside; there wasn't a better way to take a break than watching a frustrated Paul interact with a cheerful Dawn. Reggie joined him with a book in his hand claiming that he wanted to enjoy some nice fresh air despite the fact they'd been traveling for the past two days now. Brock had also left asserting he wasn't good at baking, leaving everyone else bemused at his terrible excuse, and swiftly left to annoy Nurse Joy.

Meanwhile the attempts to bake an easy cake weren't turning out that great. Paul didn't know some many things could go wrong in a kitchen till today. And yet Dawn managed to nail every single one, amazingly. He threw out the book on anything that was even slightly complicated, and proceeded to get the ingredients for a simple vanilla cake. It would be difficult to mess this up, and yet Paul wouldn't put it past the girl to figure it out.

He opened the fridge to get more items out. Paul legitimately liked baking; it was calming in ways he couldn't quite shape in his mind. Yet, he still couldn't believe he agreed to this. Lately, Paul realized, he'd been doing the strangest things. And everything seemed to relate back to Dawn, he noted with interest. He turned back around to see Dawn looking extremely excited.

"Alright, this is the simplest recipe I know." Paul said, "So try not to mess up." Dawn stuck her tongue out childishly.

"Here is the bowl." He said handing it over, "Now add in flour, eggs, and milk." Paul continued to rattle off ingredients and Dawn added them all in flawlessly. She mixed the batter and was about to pour in into the pan when Paul stopped her.

"What?" she asked.

"That went too well." He said suspiciously.

"What does that mean?" Dawn questioned.

"Nothing went wrong." Paul said blankly, "How is that even possible?"

"Well then go ahead and taste the batter, I did everything perfectly." Dawn said with confidence. Paul grabbed the spoon and licked it carefully. Nothing seemed wrong till Paul's eyes widened and he rushed to the sink to spit it out. Dawn gave him a worried look.

"What is wrong with it?"

"What did you put in?" he asked wildly.

"Everything you told me to put in." Dawn responded. Paul grabbed the first ingredient he could see and looking carefully at the label. He then huffed and lowered his head before snapping back up.

"This is chili powder Dawn!" Paul yelled. Dawn gasped and looked at the batter. Paul sighed and walked over to the batter giving Dawn a short glare before throwing the batter out. He rinsed out the bowl and grabbed for some flour.

"Ah, let me-"

"Stop, stay where you are." Paul commanded. "I can't believe it but you messed up baking a vanilla cake. It really is a new experience for me. Look I'll just bake it, okay?" Dawn nodded and Paul continued to mix the batter and eventually put the cake in the oven. Now all that was left was the poffins. Dawn grabbed the berries from her bag and handed them over to Paul.

Dawn propped her head up against her cheeks with her hands, her elbows holding her up pushed against the counter. She watched Paul carefully add the berries into the mixer, the colorful concoction blending furiously. Dawn's gaze trailed back to Paul who seemed much calmer, in his own world almost. She smiled softly; she was glad that he was benefiting somewhat from this activity. Paul took out the mixture and poured it into a bowl before slowly adding in other ingredients.

"So," she started unsure where to begin the conversation, Dawn twirled a strand of her trying to think, "Why do you like baking so much?" she bluntly finished unable to find a roundabout way to get to the topic. Paul paused monetarily before continuing with closed eyes.

"Not sure." He answered stoically. Dawn groaned, she had to poke and prod the answer our now.

"Oh come on, there has to be a reason. When do you usually bake?"

"I only bake when I'm at home; there isn't much time to do time consuming stuff on the road."

"So you don't bake that often." She mused out loud. "Cause you're barely home begin with." Dawn turned to him for an answer but he didn't look like he was going to talk. She slumped her head at the sudden silence, he might be enjoying the quite time but it sure was boring for Dawn.

"I baked mostly with my mom." He finally said. She perked up at this statement. Dawn wasn't that comfortable with talking about Paul's mom for two reasons. First of all it would be the first time that Paul was actually talking about his mom. And secondly Dawn wasn't exactly sure what happened to his mom. It was obvious she wasn't here, but she was really not _here_ or did she just take a vacation or what? It was hard to figure out considering how casually both brothers seemed when she was brought up, it seemed like she was still alive. She even looked into Paul's eyes now; there was no pain in the purple orbs. But Dawn knew she had to proceed with caution nonetheless.

"Really?" she asked with a tone of interest. Paul nodded in reply.

"My mom always baked and cooked and all those womanly things. I didn't really pay attention though, not until Reggie left." He stopped stirring and looked up thinking. "When I was a kid I always spent my time outside and with my brother."

"Aw, that's cute." She couldn't help but comment, Dawn giggled at the scowl on his face.

"Anyway, when my brother left I got bored and spent more time inside." Paul then shrugged and reached for a pot on the counter placing it on the stove before lighting the fire underneath, "And after that my mom asked me to help her in the kitchen. At first I did it because I felt like I had to, I didn't want to make her upset. But eventually I started baking and cooking because I wanted to, it was fun."

"And, I dunno, I've just liked it since." He ended abruptly; Dawn nodded with a small smile. So he liked baking because it reminded him of spending time his mom, it was so adorable and she realized that she was using the term in regards to Paul. Dawn decided not to express her opinion, she was sure he would be too manly to take the compliment the right way. Still, it was true and Dawn could almost see the soft, less-hardcore Paul shinning in front of her. Paul poured the berry mixture in the pot and took out a wooden spoon. Dawn watched him curiously.

"Wait, I want to try." She said eagerly. He eyed her suspiciously, Dawn pouted at the look.

"You're looking at me like I'm a mad person."

"You are that's not the point." Paul replied pointing the spoon at her, "I'm not sure that you can do this properly, it's a very unique technique."

"Oh come on, it's stirring. I can do stirring." Dawn said trying to reach for the spoon. Paul sighed and rolled his eyes deciding she should learn her lesson the hard way.

"Fine here, give it a shot." He handed over the wooden spoon. Dawn nodded and grabbed it nudging Paul away from the oven. She gripped the wooden spoon and started stirring the batter.

"That's too slow." He pointed out.

"So?" she questioned turning to him with an arched eyebrow. Paul returned the look.

"It'll burn if you stir too slowly." Dawn's eyes widened and she hastened the speed of her stirring. The batter swished rapidly and rushed to the edge of the pot. Paul tapped the counter to gain Dawn's attention.

"That's too fast." He said earning him a glare.

"First it's too slow, now it's too fast?" Dawn asked.

"You keep going at that pace and the batter will go all over the place."

"No it won't." She growled.

"It will splatter right on your face." He grinned

"If you keep rhyming the _batter_ will _splatter _right on your face!" Dawn threatened.

"You sure are a nut case." He muttered still bearing a smile.

"Paul!" she laughed finally. The purple haired boy chuckled and Dawn forgot about the poffin batter in front of her. To see Paul genuinely laughing gave her this warm feeling in her chest. It was care free and joyful and it made her even happier. As their laughter died down both of them stared at each other quietly, Dawn's face flushed and she looked down. Paul also adverted his attention, to the burning batter on the stove.

Reggie blinked as he heard frantic screaming from the kitchen, specifically Dawn's frantic screaming. Ash looked up startled as well; they both turned to each other with bewildered looks before scrambling back to the kitchen. Ash and Reggie ran in and were greatly surprised to see the gigantic fire on the stove. They arrived just in time to see Dawn release her Piplup.

"Water gun Piplup!" she commanded hysterically. The blue penguin sucked in its breath and sprayed out a burst of water.

"At the fire you stupid Pokémon!" yelled an enraged, and now soaked Paul. The penguin nodded in realization and turned to the fire on the stove blasting it with the attack. It took a few moments for the sudden steam to settle down but when it did everyone could clearly see the fire gone.

"That was a wonderful job Piplup!" Dawn exclaimed before promptly smacking Paul in the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" he asked with a scowl. She scooped up her Piplup and cuddled it affectionately before glaring at him.

"Don't you dare insult my Pokémon." Dawn answered with a defiant look.

"Your Pokémon is incompetent; it attacked me instead of the fire!"

"Piplup was trying to protect me from danger, so it obviously attacked the first dangerous thing it saw. Namely you!"

"Oh really, maybe it attacked me because its trainer isn't smart enough to teach her Pokémon properly."

"Excuse me?"

"Well, it looks like things are back to normal here." Reggie said giving a nervous laugh. Ash didn't look too sure.

"Uh, Reggie shouldn't we…" He gestured back at the two arguing teens. Reggie waved his hand dismissively and motioned Ash to follow him.

"They'll figure it out," he turned to look at them before shaking his head, "eventually."

"Oh yeah well-" she stopped midsentence as Paul raised his hands up. He had a slightly weary look on his face.

"Look I'd love to argue with you right now, but I hope you remember that we are doing this to help me. Just a small reminder." Paul smirked triumphantly at Dawn's blushing face. She gave him a short glare before recalling Piplup. As Dawn looked back up she saw Paul looked warily over the completely ruined poffin batter.

"Sorry." She mumbled feeling guilty. He turned to her with a raised eyebrow not seeming to care.

"They were your berries, thus your poffins. Besides we were making them for your contest, I don't care that you destroyed them." He dumped the mixture in the trashcan, "Although I've never heard of a coordinator who couldn't make poffins." She growled at the jab made towards her.

"Well I'll just prove you wrong then, I'll make a batch of poffins without your help." She declared proudly.

"Good for you." Just as Paul finished his sarcastic statement the oven dinged loudly gaining their attention. Dawn clapped her hands with excitement, the cake was done. He slipped on some oven mitts, in an amusingly pink color, and headed towards the oven.

Paul ducked down and pulled out the steaming cake from the oven. Dawn leaned over and smiled happily as she saw the lusciously brown cake placed in front of her. She looked up at Paul to see his slight smirk.

"It looks perfect!" she exclaimed. He nodded turning it around to examine it properly. He placed it back down gently. "So, it's done?"

"We have to ice it and then it'll be done." He turned back around to grab the icing from the fridge before placing it in Dawn's hands. She looked up surprised.

"You are going to let me put the frosting on it? After I messed up everything else?" she asked with delight laced in her voice. He shrugged concealing his smile at her enthusiasm.

"I figure you can't mess this up." He watched carefully as Dawn lifted the knife through the thick frosting with a slightly puzzled look, "Of course I've been wrong before." She looked up brightly.

"I got this!" she said turning to the cake. Paul sighed and put back all of the ingredients as Dawn started to frost the cake. When he glanced back at her from the pantry he almost laughed. Dawn had leaned down at eye level with the cake with a concentrated look in her eyes and determination on her features. She had stuck out her tongue and was spreading the icing purposefully and evenly. Paul walked back to the counter and leaned against it, watching her with a growing smile.

He couldn't help it, she looked cute. Concentrating so heavily on something that wasn't all that important, the look of resolve, it was just amusing. The hat on her head had slanted giving her a clumsy look. And her hair had become tousled from the day's event, yet it still looked stunning. The blue locks flowing down and framing her pretty face. Paul rubbed the back of his head as he snapped back from his drifting thoughts, he really was going crazy. He glimpsed back at her to see Dawn's face had disappeared behind the cake. He waited for a few moments before she popped back up with excitement.

"Done!" she exclaimed brightly. Paul looked down to see the perfectly frosted cake in front of them. There wasn't an any of the brown cake showing, only creamy frosting around the plump dessert. He had to admit, it looked delicious.

Dawn looked on with pride as Paul didn't seem able to find anything wrong. It was a small accomplishment but she would relish in doing something right. He glanced up at her and the small smirk on his face suddenly had signs of exploding into a full on smile. She cocked her head curiously watching as he walked around the corner beside her. Paul looked at her trying to hold in a laugh, he knew something she didn't and Dawn was getting anxious because of it.

"Well the frosting sure looks delicious." Dawn said with a nervous laugh.

"Only one way to find out." Paul responded. Dawn was suddenly surprised as his hand reached out right towards her face. Her eyes widened as his fingers proceeded to caress her cheek. She blushed immediately till he retreated his hand putting the frosting tipped finger in his mouth. Dawn was in such shock that she couldn't talk as he thought for a moment.

"Hm, it is tasty." He commented smirking at her flustered state. "Here try some." And with that he took a spoonful of the frosting and flung it in her face. Once again Paul left her so shocked she couldn't move until his laughing knocked her back down to her senses.

"You'll pay for that Paul!" she declared grabbing the icing as Paul backed away. They were, however, interrupted.

"CAKE!" Ash exclaimed from behind the window of the kitchen looking in from outside. His eyes were momentarily adverted to Dawn's icing filled face, and Paul's chuckling. Dawn smiled at Ash's slightly confused demeanor; she grabbed a towel and wiped it quickly. She walked over to the window and opened it with a sweet look on her face.

"Hey Ash, you want some cake?" she asked innocently. The short attention span of the boy let him completely forget the situation as his mind wandered to thoughts of cake. He nodded eagerly. "Okay!" she said brightly. She hurled the spoonful of icing in his face. Both Paul and Dawn laughed at the look on his face. The raven haired boy licked the frosting around his mouth before disappearing. A suspicious look crossed the teens' features. It didn't take too long for Ash to join them looking for revenge, and he got it.

* * *

"Yeah, I'm sure." Reggie said rolling his eyes at Brock. The tanner teen seemed to be beyond joy at this point.

"So you're sure, you're absolutely sure she said she is going to meet me tonight for a romantic dinner?" Brock asked again.

"Something like that." The older boy mumbled remembering Nurse Joy agreeing to join the entire group with diner. Brock sighed in content before blinking and looking around.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I left Paul, and Dawn at the kitchen with Ash at the training grounds." Reggie answered. He had to leave in order to drag Brock away from poor Nurse Joy. He just wanted to check in on the younger trainers. Reggie and Brock walked into the kitchen completely stunned. The only thing not completely covered was the perfectly frosted cake in the center of the counter. There was flour, baking powder, and icing all over the place. Mostly on the teen trainers who were all laughing in various degrees. Brock and Reggie shared an amused look.

"We should probably clean this up before Nurse Joy kills us-"Reggie was cut off as eggs were broken on top of his head. Laughter, giggles, and chuckles filled the room as the yolk slipped down his face.

"Hold on to that thought." Reggie grinned grabbing for the nearest object he could fling.

After the kitchen was cleaned up everyone took turns to clean themselves up. Ash, Brock, Reggie and Dawn had gathered around the counter eyeing the cake in pleasure. Dawn sliced the cake carefully and handed out the pieces. Ash dug in greedily.

"This is delicious." Reggie complimented to Dawn, she smiled at him.

"Paul did most of the baking." Dawn admitted sheepishly.

"Who knew Paul could be good at baking?" Ash said. Pikachu sat next to him sneakily taking bites of his master's cake.

"He doesn't do it often but when he does, well the results speak for themselves." Reggie replied. "You know Dawn I think you really helped him today."

"You think so?" she asked.

"You got him laughing." Ash remarked, "That is defiantly an accomplishment." Dawn smirked and turned to the pot on the stove stirring it slowly. Ash leaned over to take a whiff.

"What is that?" he asked.

"Poffins." She replied with obvious pride.

Paul looked up at the night sky bending backwards to get a better view. He felt a nudge on his arm and looked up to see Torterra settling down next to him. Paul stared at his starter Pokémon carefully taking in its appearance. Paul might have been hard on his Pokémon but he still knew when something was bothering them.

"Do you miss him too?" Paul whispered Torterra shifted his head slightly. Paul sighed and raised his hand, he paused mid-air. He stared at his hand and hesitated a few moments before his eyes softened. Paul placed his hand on his Pokémon's head. Torterra looked up startled for a moment staring up at its trainer. The grass Pokémon seemed to understand and eased against Paul's hand.

"We'll get him back." Paul said determination surging in his voice. The two sat in silence staring at the sky. Suddenly Paul could feel a presence behind him. He turned slightly to see Dawn smiling at him. She lowered down and offered what was in her hands, a tray filled with poffins.

"I told you I could make them." She said with a sly smile. Paul looked at them curiously before meeting her gaze.

"What kind of Pokémon are they for?" he asked. Dawn picked two of them up and gave them to Paul.

"That one is for Torterra." She said. Paul gave her a strange look but nodded his head in thanks. He turned to Torterra and offered the poffin. The grass Pokémon sniffed the poffin with interest before gulping it down.

"How'd it taste?" Paul asked. Torterra gave a content grunt before lowering his head to rest again. Paul smirked and turned to Dawn. "Well I guess it isn't that bad."

"Gee, thanks." She giggled. Paul looked back down at the poffin in his hand and looked up questionably.

"Who is this one for?" he asked. Dawn gave him a sympathetic look before placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Chimchar." She said softly, "For when he gets back."

* * *

Well I hope that satisfied all of you. I love how I just plopped Pikachu in this chapter, sometimes I forget about the little guy. Alright I'll get back to the actual plot the next chapter. Oh and also next chapter is a new main(ish) character! Bet you can't guess who it is! REVIEW!


	19. Sunyshore

I could throw out plenty of excuses with why it took so long for me to update, but really I'm sorry. When summer comes around I go crazy with all the things I can do like re-watching TV shows (FMA and Pokemon mostly) and other activites that don't result in anything usefull except my happiness. I also got Pokémon White and got completely absorbed into the game before being yanked back into reality. And yeah I started another story. But anyway, I will try updating more often. Hope you like the chapter!

* * *

"I don't understand," Ash whined eyeing the sandwich sourly before taking a meager bite, "where could a gym leader be other than the gym." The group had finally made it to Sunyshore before anyone could appreciate the wonders of the city Ash rushed the group to the gym. Sadly for the eager trainer Volkner was not at the gym, he was offered a gym badge anyway but of course Ash refused. Because they skipped breakfast to get to Sunyshore faster everyone decided to get a bite to eat before attempting to find Volkner.

"I bet he is at the lighthouse." Reggie said pushing away his empty plate, "The building is his favorite hand out spot apparently."

"The lighthouse?" Dawn questioned, before shrugging and taking a bite of her meal "Seems like a gym leader shouldn't be relaxing off somewhere with an empty gym left behind."

"So we're off to the lighthouse to find Volkner then?" Ash asked his enthusiasm returning quickly, "That way I can go and finally get that badge."

"Slow down Ash, we have to talk to Volkner about this whole Hunter J issue first." Brock pointed out, "We only have eleven days left before the trade is supposed to happen."

"And considering how big this city is we will need all the help we can get. Volkner probably knows this city best while hopefully being able to sympathize with what's going on." Dawn added, Ash sighed but nodded in agreement. Dawn shifted her gaze to catch a glimpse of Paul who had kept silent the whole time. He didn't seem to be too bothered by the conversation but Paul tended to keep things to himself. She was surprised when Paul lifted his eyes from his meal to look at Ash.

"Don't be surprised if Volkner denies to battle you for the badge." He said suddenly. Ash blinked at the information before quickly swallowing his food.

"What do you mean by that?" Ash finally responded. Paul glanced out the window as a slightly annoyed look appeared on his face.

"The guy is bored of Pokémon battling, that's why that computer tried giving you that badge today. I was able to get a battle out of him but it was pretty obvious that he wasn't really trying." Paul admitted slumping back in his seat before returning his gaze back to Ash, "I don't know maybe you'll be able to knock him back to his senses."

"Huh?" he asked confused at the comment. Paul didn't seem like he wanted to explain but he finally sighed and locked his eyes on the ceiling before continuing.

"There is something about your battling style that is…" he trailed off trying to find a proper word, "unique, I suppose. Somehow whether you end up winning or losing the battle always ends up exciting and your opponent has to win in an unconventional way." Everyone was silent staring at Paul with shock, it had sounded like Paul had just paid Ash a compliment.

"Aw they're finally getting along." Dawn cooed breaking the silence with a wide smile "How cute, maybe they'll even hug."

"Shut up." Paul groaned regretting talking at all. But he missed the grin on his rivals face.

"Thanks Paul!" Ash said, before a smug look settled on his features. "So I push you to get better then?"

"Don't push it moron." Paul responded but Ash just smirked. As everyone finished up the group made their way to the lighthouse which wasn't hard to miss. The towering building was in the corner of the city with a perched cliff spot looking out at the ocean north of the city. It was a marvelous sight and as they got closer everyone got more eager to take a look from the top. But as soon as they walked into the lighthouse a guard came rushing towards them.

"What are you kids doing here?" the older man asked gruffly.

"We are trying to find the gym leader of this city, Volkner." Reggie said stepping up to represent everyone else. The guard narrowed his eyes looking at the group suspiciously.

"Why do you need to see him?" Reggie side glanced at Paul deciding to keep anything about Hunter J to themselves for now.

"My friend here," Reggie started motioning to Ash, who waved perkily at the command, "is trying to get his eight badge and needs to challenge Volkner."

"There are badges available at the gym for you to take, you don't need to challenge anyone to get it." The man responded. Ash frowned at the statement cutting in despite Brock's warnings.

"That's no way to get a badge. You have to earn it, it won't mean the same if you toss the thing out to everyone who passes by." Ash complained.

"What are you complaining about, you want a badge you can have it for free. Whatever the case is none of you should be here. The lighthouse is off limits to the public at this time period.

"Why, I thought the lighthouse was one of the biggest tourist sites in Sunyshore." Dawn asked. But before the guard to answer everyone's attention was diverted to the sound of an elevator opening. Stepping out was a tall young man with blonde hair, it was Volkner. The gym leader glanced curiously at the group swarmed at the entrance.

"What's going on here?" Volkner asked casually.

"Sorry sir!" the guard answered stiffly," These kids were trying to-wait come back here!" the man yelled as Ash sneaked past him to get to Volkner.

"You're Volkner, right?" Ash asked.

"'I've never been asked that before." He responded with a smirk before waving off the guard who was trying to drag Ash back, "Leave them be, I'll handle this."

"My name is Ash Ketchum and I'm here to challenge you for your badge." Volkner raised his eyebrows at the strong declaration turning his gaze shortly to the rest of the group before addressing Ash.

"I don't take challengers anymore." He responded nonchalantly, closing his eyes about to walk off. "If you go to my gym you'll be offered the badge without further action."

"Wait," Ash called out stepping in front of the older boy, "it's really important that we talk to you."

"Not much to talk about, like I said you get a badge without a battle."

"I'll convince you otherwise about that." Ash started but shook his head, "But there is something else too."

"Something else?" Volkner questioned strangely.

"We need to have this talk in private." Paul stated stepping up to face Volkner. The gym leader's interest peaked at the seriousness in the purple haired boy's voice. Volkner was about to brush them off but looked over the entire group who all suddenly took in the gravity of whatever the situation was. He eyed Paul carefully before turning back to the elevator and pressing a button to open the doors.

"Well come on, you need privacy don't you?" he beckoned. Brock and Dawn passed each other similar confused looks at how easily Volkner cave in. Reggie just smiled at Paul and led the group inside the large elevator. As everyone got in the elevator shot up and Volkner let out a sigh, leaning against the rails "This better be good."

* * *

"Hunter J, huh?" Volkner swirled the drink in his hand staring at it blankly. He scowled slightly and firmly placed the glass down. "I don't think I've ever hated someone as much as that woman." Volkner had led the group into what looked like a conference room with a view of the ocean on one side of the room. The group had only gotten through with mentioning J's name before gaining his attention.

"So you've heard about her?" Ash questioned.

"Of course I have, her recent kidnappings have been all over the news. But she has been doing this for quite awhile. None of the gym leaders have been able to stop her surprisingly, she is just too sneaky." Volkner narrowed his eyebrows and turned back to Paul who met his gaze evenly. "How did you get involved with her anyway?"

"How do you think?" Paul answered getting mad just thinking about the woman, "She stole my Chimchar."

"Can't do much about that now, sorry kid. She has probably already sold the poor thing."

"We have information that Hunter J still has Chimchar." Reggie said cutting off Volkner's thoughts, "She is apparently supposed to be meeting with the buyer here in Sunyshore in about ten days." Volkner straightened from his position suddenly interested from the new information.

"How'd you get a hold of something that specific?" he asked curiously.

"Some professional spy work," Dawn cut in smugly stretching as if she did these kinds of things all the time, "One of us managed to sneak into her ship and get the information without her having any idea." She smiled with pride at Volkner who seemed slightly confused.

"You had a spy on the ship and that's all you got of him or her." Volkner asked, Dawn pouted unceremoniously before glaring at the snickering Ash, "Well I guess something is better than nothing."

"We have no idea where this meeting place is." Reggie started, "We were hoping that you might be able to help us out."

"So Hunter J has set up a business stand here in my city." Volkner mulled over the thought a deep frown on his face, "Look, this is tougher then you might be expecting. Sunyshore is one of the biggest cities in the world, with that comes plenty of places to hide. Even with our technical advantages there are lots of ways people like J can get away from our sights. Finding her will be difficult to say the least."

"You don't have any idea what we can do then." Dawn asked softly, Volkner considered her for a moment before getting out of his seat and heading towards the door. Everyone promptly followed him curious as to what he was doing.

"Set up all around the city are security cameras, anything suspicious is immediately reported and investigated on. That's why there usually aren't any criminal incidents linked with Sunyshore." Volkner started casually walking down the hallway looking at each door carefully.

"Can't we use the cameras to catch J?" Reggie asked but Volkner shook his head.

"No, you have to look at it differently. Wherever J is hiding is directly out of the camera's vantage point. She somehow has been able to direct her business deals without being caught. You have to think about places where cameras can't see." Volkner directed.

"Where cameras can't see?" Dawn repeated trying to think, "But you said they're set up everywhere in the city, then they'd be able to see everything."

"Well they can't see underground can they?" Ash asked suddenly, Volkner smirked at him nodding his head.

"That's right, underground. People can't think of looking there, and it's hidden out of the camera's sight." Everyone looked stunned that Ash managed to come up with the answer.

"Are you feeling okay?" Dawn asked poking the boy's shoulder.

"I think so, am I supposed to feel sick?"

"Then it's easy, we can use ground Pokémon to dig underground to find any hidden bases." Brock said brightly.

"It isn't that simple." Volkner retorted, "Burying underneath a city is dangerous. And if nothing else it'll create enough ruckus to warn whoever is hiding down there."

"Besides they could easily just be hiding in a basement somewhere which doesn't look suspicious at all from underground." Paul said thinking out loud, "But then how do we find them?"

"Well that's the hard part, but we have to remember its somewhere their clients can easily reach." Reggie said, "That means it can't be that difficult to get to considering these people aren't skilled enough to go catch a Pokémon and have to resort to buying them illegally."

"It still seems like we aren't getting anywhere." Dawn sighed, "I mean we don't even know where to start looking."

"I'll address that issue in a bit." Volkner finally said quietly, but didn't continue like everyone suspected.

"I have a question; she still has to get here somehow right? Well her ship is huge, wouldn't everyone be able to see it coming in?" Ash asked.

"It's invisible though," Dawn reminded, "She can hide it anywhere in the outskirts of the city and go in the city without being suspected of anything."

"But then wherever she has to hide it has to be big enough to keep a ship without anyone else bumping into it." Brock pointed out.

"And it has to be close enough to the city so she can transport the Pokémon she kidnapped to wherever her base is without getting caught." Paul added in.

"So the base has to be near the outskirts of the city." Reggie concluded with a triumphant grin. "That's the only way everything else could work."

"Well, you guys are figuring things out pretty quickly." Volkner complimented, "Can't put a sticker on where she is but at least we're getting somewhere."

"Thanks for helping us Volkner." Dawn said happily speaking for the rest of the group, especially Paul who was thankful as well but too prideful to say it out loud, "If you weren't so kind as to hear us out about this then we would still be scrambling as to what to do."

"It's nothing to be thankful for." He replied indifferently, "It's my duty as a trainer to help Pokémon in danger, I'm glad you guys came to me for help. Because we're all going to have to help each other with this upcoming battle."

"Speaking of battles…" Ash said getting easily distracted from the current issue; he was determined to get a proper gym battle. Dawn rolled her eyes at how incoherently Ash turned the conversation back to his gym battle. Volkner turned slight to send him a short glare from up ahead.

"I said no didn't I?" Ash groaned before putting on his best begging face.

"Please give me a chance. I promise you a fight that will get you excited about battling again." Ash pleaded, Volkner didn't look convinced though.

"I can attest to that." Paul said blankly, he really wouldn't be able to stand the amount of whining Ash would do if he didn't get this battle. Volkner stared back at Paul as if trying to recall a memory. Something apparently clicked as he flashed a smirk.

"Now I remember who you are. You're one of the few people I had a battle with over these past couple of months. From what I recall you gave me quite a good fight."

"Not that you were trying." Paul retorted sharply.

"Well if you're supposedly that great then maybe that'll change next time." Volkner shrugged before Ash jumped back in.

"So you'll have a real battle with Paul but not with me?" Ash prodded, "Come on, one battle!"

"Fine." Volkner sighed, turning to Ash still looking uninterested, "We'll have the battle tomorrow morning, 3 on 3. Don't give me that look." He snapped at the childish expression appearing on the raven haired boy's face at the idea of having the battle the next day. "If I'm going to help with you taking down Hunter J I need to look into some things. But let me warn you, if I win then you won't be able to challenge me for another two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Ash frowned rubbing his head, "But then I'll only have a week to get to the Championships."

"Isn't that tragic?" Volkner replied turning his back to the group as he continued walking forward.

"Shouldn't we be concentrating on finding where Hunter J is first?" Paul asked.

"Of course we should." Volkner paused giving a glance back, "Unfortunately, like we already established there are no real leads. Some of you will have to go investigating tomorrow."

"Investigating, I don't know if you've looked around but this city is huge. How are we supposed to find anything useful by just looking around?"

"Someone is determined." Volkner muttered before pausing in his stride at a door at the side of the hallway. He pressed a button and the door slid open, Volkner walked in allowing everyone else to follow. The room they entered had one complete wall made of glass to see outside. The height that they were at in the lighthouse allowed the group to see the whole city perfectly.

"Wow!" Dawn remarked staring out the city, "It's so cool."

"Yeah, you can see everything from here." Brock added smiling at the view. Everyone gravitated to the window with interest. Volkner stared at the city before lifting his hand carefully tracing his fingers against the glass.

"I'm positive that there is something fishy going on at the warehouses in the northern part of the city." Volkner admitted drawing everyone's attention to the docks on the shore. There were many warehouses lined near the area. "If there are any criminal groups running loose in the city, you'll find something up there."

Paul looked at where the gym leader was talking about. It made sense that Hunter J's base would be in one of those warehouses. It was near the shore which allowed for easy transportation. It would also be easy to hide, perfect for selling Pokémon for profits. Volkner then turned the opposite direction pointing at another location.

"That's the Seal Market; its main purpose of course is to sell seals for poke balls. But they also sell many other things, some legal and some illegal." Volkner informed, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and turned back to the rest of the group. "It might seem too public, but with all the commotion there black market sales can go on without notice."

"Like I said these are just hunches and I don't really have any solid evidence proving criminal behavior there. But they are your best shots."

"I don't understand, if you thought something was wrong before why you haven't tried investigating." Ash suddenly asked, "If what you say is true then more than one crime gang might be lurking in the city."

"Ash is right," Dawn piped up, "why haven't you tried stopping this before?"

"I have tried." Volkner responded closing his eyes. "But word spreads fast and any investigation I might start ends up tipping off these organizations. Before I get a chance to look they've covered up everything. The police aren't much of a help either, no matter who tries looking these criminal groups know ahead of time and hide away until we stop sniffing."

"Why would that change if we investigated?" Paul asked curiously. Volkner smirked finally opening his eyes to meet his gaze.

"Who is going to suspect a bunch of kids?" Paul nodded in understanding before turning back to look at the city. He narrowed his eyes angrily, somewhere he couldn't see Hunter J's base was hidden and he was going to find it no matter what.

* * *

So if you haven't figured it out yet the new mainish character is Volkner, a little different but it fits. I promise a update in the near future and for once I'm not just saying that. Alright that is all, review please!


	20. Investigation

A gym battle and some investigating! Interesting...by the way the gym battle will not be the same as the one in the show obviously. Alright then go ahead and read!

* * *

"Hey open up!" Ash urged banging on the door to the Sunyshore gym rapidly. Pikachu yawned on top of his master's head lazily watching Ash become increasingly impatient. "Come on Volkner!"

"Did we really have to come here at 7:00 A.M?" Dawn asked rubbing her tired eyes. Brock's head kept bobbing up and down as he shifted from being awake and being asleep. Reggie was the only one that seemed brisk.

"But he said we'd have our battle in the morning." Ash pointed out.

"Morning is anytime before noon; Volkner might not even be awake yet." Paul grumbled especially annoyed at being waked up so early. "We really couldn't have waited a couple of hours for you to lose."

"Ha, you wish!" Ash smirked confidently, "I'm going to win my eight badge today and will finally be eligible for the Sinnoh Championships."

"Yeah, yeah." Paul rolled his eyes. Suddenly the door that was previous shut tight started opening with a hiss. Ash's eyes brightened with excitement and rushed through the entrance before the door fully opened.

"I swear Ash; you're going to break something one of these days." Dawn called out to deaf ears; she sighed and followed the rest of the group. As they reached the reception desk Ash was unsuccessfully trying to talk to the computer secretary.

"I'm here for my battle with Volkner." Ash announced the computer was silent for a moment before responding.

"I'm sorry I could not process the information. Please repeat."

"I have a battle with-!"

"I'm sorry I could not process the information. Please repeat."

"I have a battle. With Volkner?" Ash repeated through gritted teeth. The computer went silent for a moment.

"Volkner the gym leader of Sunyshore, his specialty is electric types and-"

"I already know that, I want to battle him. I want to get a gym bad-"

"Alright Ash, I get the idea." Everyone looked up to see that Volkner had suddenly appeared. The young man glanced at the computer slightly annoyed before pressing a button on it apparently shutting it off. Volkner then shifted his gaze to the excited raven haired boy.

"You sure are an early riser."

"I'm excited for my gym badge." Ash stated simply smiling happily. Volkner sighed before glancing back up at the rest of the group.

"Are all of you going to watch?" he asked.

"It'll just be me, but only because you guys will need a referee." Brock interjected.

"The rest of us will be checking out the places you told us about yesterday." Reggie stated. "The Seal market and the warehouses."

"You did say we have two weeks, right?" Volkner asked making a sweeping glance at the group, "What's the rush?"

"The sooner we know where Hunter J could be the better prepared we can be." Paul said. Volkner met his gaze for a second before shrugging and turning the other direction.

"I suppose you're right." He admitted, "Listen if you guys find something don't go in alone. First of all you won't have a chance to beat them by yourself. And even if you manage to get away I would rather not give away the advantage of a surprise attack."

"No need to worry!" Dawn called out with her usual perkiness. Brock flinched at the sentence and turned to Ash who had the same skeptical look.

"We won't do anything stupid." Paul assured Volkner before swiveling back, heading towards the exit. Dawn waved brightly at the group ready to follow him.

"Good luck Ash, I know you'll do great!"

"Best of luck Ash!" Reggie patted Ash on the back before joining Dawn to track down Paul.

"Thanks guys!" Ash called back.

"Be careful!" Brock added before turning to his best friend. Ash waved him off before he could say anything.

"I know you're worried, but Reggie will make sure nothing happens." Ash turned to follow Volkner who had already left to the battlefield.

"Yeah I know." Brock sighed before elbowing Ash in the ribs, "I was worrying about you winning this match."

"Hey!"

*****XXX*****

"For some reason I thought you would want to go with Reggie." Paul glanced at Dawn who was merrily walking by his side. She turned to him surprised that he was starting a conversation for once.

"It is actually pretty simple why I didn't go with him." Dawn admitted sheepishly, "if I went to the Seal market then I would be too enamored with all the shopping opportunities that I'd be distracted from what I am supposed to do."

"Yeah, but you're stuck with me."

"It's not as bad as you might think." Dawn laughed. Paul stared at her curiously; he couldn't figure her out if he tried. Paul knew he was gruff and mean he wasn't oblivious to his personality. He didn't understand why Dawn still seemed to enjoy his company. Although there could be a simple reasoning, she was crazy. He sneaked another look at her. Dawn was looking the other way staring in awe at the city around her. That happy smile was fixed on her lips, and her eyes filled with bright curiosity. Paul used to think that the look was annoying, now not so much. Maybe he was the one going crazy. She was making him go crazy.

The pair stopped as they finally reached the warehouses perched next to the docks. Dawn's smile widened as she looked out on the ocean. "It's gorgeous." She whispered, Paul didn't respond but silently agreed to the sentiment. But as beautiful as the scene was it wasn't going to distract him that easily.

"Come on." Paul muttered Dawn quickly followed behind him. He stood at the front of the first warehouse peering in to see it was an empty one. Paul and Dawn stepped in carefully looking around; the only things that were in the warehouse were large wooden boxes. Paul walked up to one of them lifting open the box.

"Are you sure we should do that?" Dawn asked with concern but to no avail. Paul crouched down to reach into the box and curiously pulled out a poke ball. He looked back in; the box was filled with poke balls. Dawn reached for one herself, she looked at Paul.

"You don't think…" Paul pressed the release button on the ball to find that the ball was empty. Paul sighed as Dawn tried her poke ball to see that it was empty too.

"I think these are just extra poke ball shipments. Unless you want to check all of them?" Dawn questioned, Paul paused grabbing a few of them to check although he was pretty certain nothing was in them. Dawn rolled the poke ball in her hand for a moment absently opening the empty ball; she blinked for a moment something catching her eye. But Paul suddenly adverted her attention as he stood up abruptly.

"If any of these poke balls did have Pokémon in them then there would be some kind of protection around here for their investment." Paul informed glancing around the area to see if there was anything else. Dawn followed his lead dumping the poke ball back into the box.

"But if you think about it like that then won't the base have some kind of protection. I know that Volkner already said that the security cameras aren't a problem but shouldn't there be something." Dawn reasoned.

"Whatever it is, it won't be obvious. It can't be people or Pokémon because that would look too suspicious." Paul thought silently as both trainers left the warehouse. As they reached back outside he glanced around. "What could they use for security?" Dawn shrugged unable to think of anything. Paul sighed his gaze finally resting on the lighthouse that still looked big from so far away. The purple haired boy's eyes stared at the large building thinking to himself.

"It couldn't be…" he muttered narrowing his eyes.

"What?" Dawn asked glancing around to figure out what Paul was talking about. Paul stared uneasily at the lighthouse before grabbing Dawn's hand and pulling her back into the warehouse. Dawn watched him in bewilderment as Paul looked around with a hand firmly set on one of his poke balls.

"What is going on? Did you see someone?" Dawn looked around startled. Paul didn't answer and remained stiff until several minutes passed, finally sighing. "Paul." Dawn pressed.

"This might sound weird, but I think that they set up security by placing spies in the lighthouse."

"What?" Dawn seemed confused, "The lighthouse…"

"Remember what Volkner said? You can see the entire city from that lighthouse. It's the perfect spot."

"But you can't see people from all the way up there."

"There are those magnifying things all over the place. Besides all you need is a pair of binoculars to see everything." Dawn still frowned still unconvinced.

"Volkner practically lives up there. Don't you think he would notice if something weird was going on there."

"People have jobs at that lighthouse to watch out for incoming ships. They are supposed to use binoculars and magnifying tools. Besides the warehouses are right near the dock, no one would suspect them." Paul huffed waiting for Dawn to be convinced. She still looked unsure wincing at his expecting look.

"Alright, fine. You don't have to believe me. But we should stay out of sight of the lighthouse's view just in case." Paul rose up to scan the area before finding the quickest way to the next warehouse. Dawn was close behind him, concern on her face. Paul seemed too tense and was almost acting paranoid like he knew someone was watching them. It did sound silly, but Paul seemed to genuinely believe his theory. And even if she wasn't completely convinced, the idea left a unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. Dawn made a small, subtle glance at the towering lighthouse and shuddered softly.

*****XXX*****

"This doesn't look good." Brock muttered to himself watching the first two Pokémon the pair of trainers had sent out facing each other off.

Volkner stared side-ways at the wall completely bored. In front of him a gorgeous Luxray was easily dodging the futile attempts of Ash's Grotle to damage the electric type. Each razor leaf was swiftly avoided with elegant grace much to Ash's frustration. He got even more annoyed looking up to see his opponent yawn with complete disinterest. Fine, Ash snapped to himself angrily, he would make Volkner look.

"Grotle, Earthquake!" Ash commanded watching his Pokémon prepare for the powerful ground attack. Volkner barely passed a glance infuriating Ash, that is until Luxray pounced roughly against the battlefield sending the gleam eyed Pokémon leaping in the air. Ash watched in shock as Grotle was unable to hold out the Earthquake long enough for Luxray to come back down. Grotle looked tiredly back up as the electric type shook its tail with a cocky look.

"I hope for both our sakes that you have something up your sleeve." Volkner called out from the other side in a dull voice. Ash gritted his teeth trying to think of something, "No, fine then. Luxray signal beam."

The blue furred Pokémon opened its mouth at the command, a ball of energy forming quickly near its mouth. Luxray blasted the attack getting a direct hit on the slow moving grass type. Ash gaped in surprise as he waited desperately for Grotle to get up, slowly but surely the Pokémon rose back up. It wobbled slightly from the injuries but soon Grotle was able to stabilize itself.

"Determined." Volkner muttered carefully watching Grotle.

"Good Job Grotle!" Ash cried out with encouragement. He grinned brightly suddenly inspired by his Pokémon's determination to form a new strategy, "Stealth rock!" Several large rocks jutted out from the ground surrounding the electric type in a levitating circle. Volkner's eyes narrowed while Luxray glanced around at the pointed rocks.

"Now," Ash yelled brimming with excitement, "Giga drain!" Luxray was unable to avoid the attack with the rocks around the area, the electric type hissed in pain as its energy was rapidly being sucked away. When the attack ended Luxray flinched before looking up to see Grotle looking much better than a few seconds ago. The Pokémon didn't need its trainer's command to know what do, rushing forward with barred teeth. "Withdraw!" Ash hastily called out, sighing in relief when his Pokémon whipped back into its shell for protection against the crunch attack. Luxray slammed against the hard surface wincing from the contact.

"Crunch." Ash grinned, watching as Grotle popped back out snapping its teeth on Luxray's front limb. In a slick motion Luxray slammed its hind leg against Grotle's head causing the grass type to let go its clamped jaw. Scurrying back near its trainer Luxray glared back at Grotle with its sharp yellow eyes. Suddenly the grass type started glowing, everyone watched in surprise as the Pokémon grew larger and transformed into a powerful Torterra.

"You evolved!" Ash shouted with joy at his new Pokémon.

"Well," Volkner started interest peaking within him, "This should make things interesting." Unfortunately while Torterra had gotten much stronger through the evolution, his speed still hadn't improved much at all.

"Leaf Storm!" Ash called out.

"Jump on the rocks." Volkner commanded, Luxray easily leaped up carefully climbing onto the levitating rock. Torterra couldn't get the razor sharp leaves high enough to reach the electric type, "Signal beam." Another direct hit and the newly evolved Torterra was knocked out.

"Torterra!" Ash cried out before sighing and grabbing for his poke ball, "Nice try buddy."

"Hm, I wonder what his next Pokémon will be." Volkner thought to himself, he paused catching himself in his thoughts before frowning and turning the other direction. It had been a long time since he bothered caring about his opponent's Pokémon.

*****XXX*****

Reggie glanced around the seal market cautiously; the whole area was bustling with action. Lots of shopping, exchanging of items, chatter, and laughter. Reggie smiled softly as a group of children raced past him with grins on their faces and Pokémon happily in their hands. The look on his face hardened at the thought of criminal activity happening close by. But he hadn't found any solid evidence anywhere. He absently wondering whether Paul and Dawn had found anything, he almost hoped they didn't for their safety.

"Is there anything I can do for you, sir?" a friendly middle-aged man asked from behind a stall. Reggie looked at him slightly startled but smiled at the man anyway. He was quick to observe that from the sign above the stall that the man was selling poke balls.

"Oh, no. Thank-you though." Reggie politely replied, waving off the request.

"Well, is there anything else you are looking for?" the man asked, "Maybe I can point you in the right direction." Reggie considered the offer for a moment, his gaze drifted down to the poke balls the man was selling. He fingered one of them not finding anything particularly interesting about the standard issue poke balls.

"Hm...I'm looking for something that's a bit difficult to find." Reggie finally answered with a half-smile. He froze suddenly noticing a shadow cross the man's face.

"Is that so?" the man asked, his voice sounding odd suddenly. Reggie blinked at him carefully wondering if he was just imagining the suspicious tone. The man smiled, and the purple haired young man couldn't help but feel that this time the smile was on the creepy side.

"Are you sure I can't help you with anything?" the man asked again staring at him intently as if expecting a certain answer. Reggie stared back at him, silent for a few moments. He then smiled once again and lifted up the poke ball he had been holding.

"Having an extra poke ball wouldn't hurt." Reggie declared brightly, he reached into his pocket to hand over some money. The man initially seemed surprised but quickly recovered flashing another friendly smile before nodding and accepting the cash. Reggie thanked the man and turned to leave, pocketing the new poke ball away.

"Have a nice day, sir." the man called out sounding genuine. Reggie returned the pleasantry before trying to dissect the weird vibe he had felt from the man. Maybe it was nothing, he hadn't found anything else useful so Reggie wouldn't be surprised if he was unconsciously making things more suspicious then they actually were. But still...

*****XXX*****

Paul sighed closing another package of packed potions, it didn't seem like they were getting anywhere. The warehouses that they had been searching were only filled with boxes filled with some random store items. Most of them were filled with empty poke balls. So far they hadn't found anything significant. Paul could only hope that Reggie had found something worthwhile.

"Dawn?" Paul suddenly called out but was met with silence. He jumped up from his position and looked around where he last saw her. "Where did you go?" he asked loudly.

"Down here!" came a faint voice. Paul whipped around sensing the voice came from behind some of the large boxes in the corner of the warehouse. As he ran over he saw a hole in the ground hidden at first from view by the stacked up boxes. Paul leaned over carefully to clearly see Dawn rubbing her head in pain. She blinked looking up at his shocked face. "Well are you just going to stand there?"

Paul shook his head and sent her a short glare before looking around his surrounding area. Dawn frowned as she saw him walk away from her limited seeing range. "Hey!" she shouted but was apparently ignored.

She scowled lightly before suspiciously observing the hole which she fell from. It was a clean square cut meaning the hole was already there. Dawn glanced around the room she'd fallen into, whatever this place was it was supposed to stay hidden. She was cut off from her thoughts when a rope was suddenly tossed down from up above. Dawn was about to reach for it to climb up but suddenly Paul came into view and slid down to meet her.

"I'm glad you got down here so comfortably." Dawn commented when his feet touched the ground. Paul smirked at her icy remark before looking around the room they got into.

"A hideout?" he asked. Dawn turned to him after leaning in to see one of the boxes filled with poke balls.

"Looks like it." Dawn responded before pausing to look at him, "Do you think this place is connected to Hunter J?"

"Maybe." Paul considered, checking the boxes in the room before turning to the door. "But you heard Volkner; he said that there are lots of criminal organizations with bases of operations here. It could belong to any of them." Paul headed towards the door carefully trying to keep as quite as possible.

"Wait, shouldn't we go back?" Dawn asked making Paul hesitate, "Volkner said that if we found anything that we shouldn't go in alone. It's too dangerous."

"We don't even know what we found yet." Paul said, "I'll just look around, that way we'll have a decent report to give everyone else. You stay here, I'll be back soon."

"Are you crazy? You're starting to sound as stupidly irrational as Ash." Dawn scolded with angry whispers," You're going go headfirst somewhere that is potentially dangerous, and by yourself too! What's wrong with you?"

"It'll just be a quick look." Paul growled, "It isn't any different from you going into Hunter J's ship to release those Pokémon."

"Then why can't I come with you?" Paul sighed dropping his head at the simple question. Honestly, it was because he didn't want anything to happen to her. But he wasn't going to admit that directly. He turned to her with a sharp glare but she met his intense look equally.

"You'll slow me down."

"Not as much as you think."

"Is that so?"

"Happens to be a fact."

"So you want to do?"

"It seems like you are set on going off to explore this place, and if you're going to do something that dumb then I'm coming to make sure you don't screw up and get yourself caught." Dawn stated firmly, Paul stared at her incredibly. She really had grown a big head after all this time.

"Fine." He mumbled, "Just don't wander off." He turned back towards the door and opened it slightly peeking into what looked like a hallway. Paul suddenly felt Dawn trying to get a look as well and quickly kicked her away with a scowl. Dawn was barely able to prevent the squeak that was about to escape her lips causing her to knock over one of the boxes and dropping some of her Pokémon balls. She pouted from the ground and kicked Paul in return.

"Quit it!" He whispered harshly. Dawn turned around to collect her dropped poke balls while at the same time arguing in harsh whispers with Paul. Their squabble was interrupted as footsteps were suddenly heard coming from down the hall. Paul quickly held the door open to observe who it could be. Dawn quickly shoved the rest of the red and white balls in her bag so she could join him. His vision was blocked by a grey uniform, he blinked at the familiarity.

"How long do you think we have to stay down here?" a grumpy voice called out with annoyance. "It's like living in a cave, nothing to do but stare at each other."

"From what I heard Volkner's on to the fact that we have a base here." A bored voice responded, "We can't leave till his suspicions are lifted."

"With our luck he'll find a new electrical project to work on." The two people chuckled at this causing Paul to frown. Dawn shifted next to him to hear as well. "Rumor is that electric-nut is too caught up in the cities renovations that he hasn't noticed that Hunter J chick has created a base here." At this Paul and Dawn stiffened, giving each other the same knowing look.

"Her organization usually keeps things under wraps, where did you hear that?"

"Nothing else to do down here but gossip, it's trending all over the black market about her new base here."

"Really where is it?" Paul held his breath waiting anxiously for the answer to the question that was on his own mind. But to his undying bad luck the pair of men outside of the room had their conversation halted.

"What are you two doing here?" yelled out a harsh voice. Paul cursed silently straining to get a better look at who had interrupted.

"Just scanning the area sir!" came a stiff response.

"For what, a spy." The obviously superior man scoffed, "There is a meeting soon. As both of you know Jupiter is making a visit here and we need to make the proper preparations. Now get moving!" Paul watched as the grey uniform quickly rushed away. He then kept silent making sure that no one else was still in the hallway before shutting the door. Paul leaned against the door deep in thought.

"Jupiter," Dawn trailed off thinking, "Sorry, but Paul I think that's one of the leaders of Team Galactic."

"Not surprising," he sighed gazing up at the ceiling, "Crime syndicates gossiping about each other like their friendly neighbors. That's just great; this just makes things so much more complicated."

"Why do you say that?" Dawn asked.

"Why do you think?" Paul responded, "We can't just leave these guys here doing all their dirty work. As soon as Volkner hears about this he'll have to attack this place. And as soon as Hunter J hears about Volkner staring to sweep out criminals in Sunyshore she'll race out of here without looking back."

"Well, then we'll root out Hunter J first and…"

"Then Team Galactic will escape, both of them are dangerous. I don't think anyone can afford to let either get away." Paul sighed and pushed off from the wall. "We'll figure this out with everyone else. We should leave before they figure out we're here"

Paul headed for the rope still dangling from the hole. Dawn stared warily behind her before hearing Paul's grunt to gain her attention. She looked back up to see him motion towards the rope for her to go first. "You go first, that way when you fall I'll catch you before you make enough noise to let everyone know our presence."

"Gee, I'm glad you care." Dawn sarcastically responded before heading towards the rope. She gripped it tightly and started climbing but paused after barely inching up. Dawn glared down at Paul who sent her a questionable look.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Just…" she hesitated as her face reddened before continuing, "Don't look."

His eyebrows rose questionably before Dawn reached out to pull down her skirt. Paul's eyes widened in understanding and he whipped around facing the other direction his face heating up fast. Dawn caught a glimpse at his flustered appearance and stifled a giggle before continuing up the rope.

*****XXX*****

Volkner looked momentarily startled seeing his team's powerhouse, Electivire, knocked out in front of him. The gym leader looked up still unbelieving to see a severely injured Aipom. Logically, there was no way that monkey Pokémon would have been able to defeat his Luxray and his Electivire back to back. The purple normal type was completely exhausted, and yet it stood up firmly waiting for its next opponent. Volkner quietly recalled Electivire muttering comforting words once the Pokémon was safely in its poke ball. He sent a glance back at Ash before grabbing a poke ball he wasn't planning on using at all. But this kid deserved a proper battle.

Raichu was sent out with a surprised look, the Pokémon blinked twice looking around. It had been awhile since Raichu had been in a battle. The Pokémon sent a wary look back at Volkner who simply grinned. The Pokémon's eyes gleamed seeing the old, familiar look in its master's eyes. With a confident grin the Pokémon sent out an array of sparks indicating it was ready to battle.

"Raichu, thunderbolt." That was the only command needed, Aipom didn't have a chance. Ash recalled the Pokémon, unable to commend Aipom enough for the enormous effort he had put through. Ash looked back up at the charged up Raichu; he didn't need to call out for his next Pokémon. Pikachu was already standing in front of his trainer ready to battle.

Brock was staring at the intense battle with wide eyes, he couldn't believe how evenly matched the two electric types were. It was obvious that Raichu was stronger, Brock observed watching Pikachu grimace from the damage of its opponents sudden iron tail attack. However Pikachu was much faster, the yellow mouse Pokémon dashed forward with a quick attack that Raichu hadn't seen coming. But unlike Ash's battle with Lt. Surge, Volkner's Raichu was much faster lessening the advantage Ash Pikachu had.

But more than that Brock noticed a change in Volkner's demeanor. Unlike the first two matches where he didn't seem too interested, the gym leader was now glowing with excitement. Ash was certainly the right opponent for Volkner right now.

"Wow, this is certainly an exciting battle." Brock turned away from the battle towards the voice.

"Reggie?"

"Hey Brock, so they're each down to their last Pokémon then." Reggie asked sitting next to the breeder, he stared up at the battle with interest.

"Yeah, it looked like Ash was going to get away with it easily but Volkner got back in it. It's defiantly been one of the more exciting gym battles I've seen." Brock commented before blinking and turning back to Reggie, "Where are Paul and Dawn?"

"I was about to ask the same thing." Reggie turned back to Brock confused, "I checked the Seal market but didn't find anything worth mentioning. Paul and Dawn were supposed to check some of the warehouses near the dock. They aren't back yet?"

"No, you don't think that…" Brock trailed off worried, Reggie mirrored his look. Their attention was diverted at the explosion in the middle of battlefield. Ash and Volkner stared intensely in front of them waiting for the dust to clear out. When it did Pikachu and Raichu were still standing both severely injured.

"Well, look who is still kicking." Volkner grinned at the unexpected scene in front of him. Ash couldn't have been more pumped. "Well kid, I think it's time for the finishing touch. It's time to end this."

"I agree." Ash smirked flicking the edge of his cap eagerly. The two electric Pokémon standing across from each other looked poised ready for their master's command.

"Volt tackle!" both trainers commanded at once. Instantly two balls of light shined brightly on opposite sides of the field before rushing to meet each other on a head on collision. Once the two collided the bright flash of light blinded all the people in the gym. Volkner and Ash covered their eyes in the nap of their elbows too close to even attempt a glance while Reggie and Brock squinted trying to keep their eyes opened. A few moments later the huge ball of blinding light exploded and everyone could see the two Pokémon get blown away in the other directions.

When Volkner and Ash finally got a good look they saw both of their electric Pokémon each lying in front of them struggling to move. With looks of equal determination Pikachu and Raichu tried rising up, both slowly taking a standing position. Volkner managed to gain Ash's gaze and the two trainers couldn't help but feel a surge of respect for the other. Unbeknownst to them their Pokémon were sharing a similar gaze. The next few moments crawled by in front of Reggie and Brock until finally one of the electric Pokémon fell.

"Raichu has fainted. Pikachu is the winner. The challenger Ash Ketchum has beaten the gym leader!"

"YEAH!" Ash yelled running forward to grab Pikachu, the raven haired trainer smiled cradling his starter Pokémon with care, "Are you okay Pikachu?"

"Cha!" Pikachu replied weakly but happily. Ash hugged the Pokémon gratefully.

"That was fun, don't you think?" Volkner asked his Raichu with a light chuckle. "It's been a long time seen I've been that excited battling..."

"Raii.." his Pokémon trailed off before getting an affectionate head rub from his trainer.

"You were great. Take a nice long rest, you deserve it." With that Volkner returned the Pokémon and glanced back at Ash, a smirk on his features at the boy obviously thrilled about his win. He reached in for the gym badges he had kept in his pocket, Volkner stared at silently for a moment.

"Hey Ash," he called out catching the attention of the bright brown eyes. He tossed the badge casually to the boy watching him catch with curiosity. Ash looked down at it in his hands before breaking out in a huge grin and showing it to Pikachu.

"And Ash." Volkner added suddenly, a serious look on his face appeared for a split second before he flashed the young trainer a grin, "Thanks."

"Thanks to you too." Ash tightened his fist against the metal pendant with excitement, "I'm going to the league championships!" Ash shouted twirling around with Pikachu clinging to his shoulder good-naturedly. Brock grinned at his best friend, proud and happy that he finally managed to get his last gym badge. He turned to Reggie expecting a similar look only to see the older boy starring with concern at the door off to the side. Reggie lifted his gaze once he felt Brock's and the two shared a worried look.

* * *

I hope no one is upset that I practically skipped half gym battle, the general gist is obvious. Ash gets a gym badge; Volkner gets excited about battling again. For anyone wary about Volkner's lack of a personality, we will be seeing a jumpstart in that next chapter. Oh and Grotle's evolution, more important than you might think. By the way, are there any characters you guys would like to see in the story? If I get no suggestions Maylene and Flint may make an appearance. Eh, I might not update as soon as I would like. I'll try my best though, please review!


	21. Chapter 21

Update! Yay! I'm excited about this chapter, because I wrote this entire thing in one day. Which excites me for some reason. Well, enjoy!

* * *

"What are we doing?" Dawn asked as she raced behind Paul.

"We can't let them see us, any of them." Paul growled lowly, when did so many of these people show up? After they had come back up from the secret room they had found Paul noticed an abnormally large group of people outside the warehouses. He couldn't say for sure whether all of them were part of Team Galactic of not but he wasn't going to take any chances. "Come on." He whispered before running quickly again.

Dawn ran behind him as the pair alternatively raced between warehouses, and hid behind storage boxes tying to get past the sudden crowd of people all around all the warehouses. She could barely keep up; as soon as she caught her breath Paul would run off again. But Dawn knew that if they got caught things could get really bad.

Suddenly as they were about to enter the last warehouse, Dawn's foot stepped down on a poke ball on the floor and she slipped falling. Before she could feel the pain creeping up her foot Paul had dragged her over to nearest hiding place. He then quickly looked around to check if anyone had saw them.

"Ow, ow, ow…" Dawn muttered trying to put her foot down but stopping because it hurt too much. Paul turned to her and leaned down to look at her foot. He tentatively touched it and watched her hiss in pain.

"I think it's sprained." Paul said glancing up to see Dawn bite down on her lip. Both of their features froze at the sound of footsteps. After a few painfully slow moments they heard the footsteps quickly fade away, each releasing a relived breath. Paul's eyes hardened, "You can't run with that ankle, and if we don't move they'll find us…." He trailed off in thought.

"Well what are we going to-ah!" Dawn cried as Paul swept her up in his arms bridal style. Her face flushed instantly and she looked up at him startled by his sudden action, but he wasn't even sparing her a second look. He quickly dashed away from their spot and to a more hidden location a few yards further away.

As he continued to see if anyone was around, Dawn was trying to compose herself. He was holding her, his arms were wrapped around her. Any thoughts of the lingering pain in her ankle had been completely wiped out.

"Don't look so happy, if it wasn't for the fact that everyone would scream at me if you didn't come back with me I would have left you behind." Paul said simply. Dawn glared at him; he met her eyes briefly with raised brows. Her eyes narrowed sharply.

"Oh don't go making some lame excuse. You're the one who wanted to get your hands all over me." Dawn almost shrieked when Paul stumbled mid-stride.

"What are you doing? They could find us!" Dawn hissed harshly. His face had frozen for a split second till he heard he turned sharply to her.

"Can you just shut up for like five seconds?" Paul asked coldly glaring at her, but Dawn was un-phased.

"I'm not the one tripping all over the place."

"Actually you are," he poked her swollen ankle and smirked at her cringe in pain. "There is proof right there." She scowled lightly, silently mocking him with implied sarcasm. He just rolled his eyes trying to ignore her. It wasn't long before they could tell they were out of sight from any of the men from the warehouse and were safe enough in the city. Paul kept carrying Dawn, either not seeming to mind or too pre-occupied to notice.

Dawn, being the type of girl who always did enjoy the occasional love story, couldn't help but think about how strangely chivalrous Paul was acting. After all he had "rescued" her when she had gotten injured and was trying to keep her safe. She had almost forgotten that spraining her ankle was a bad thing, and had also forgotten Paul was probably the furthest thing from romantic. But that was okay, she could pretend. Dawn had to admit, with a growing smile, that this was kind of nice.

"God, you're heavy." Paul muttered shifting her weight in his arms. Dawn slammed a fist in his chest with a growl. He looked down at her bored. "If you don't stop that, I'll drop you."

"Sure go ahead, we're safe in the city anyways." She whispered crossing her arms and closing her eyes. "I don't need your help anymore."

"In that case…" Paul pulled back the arm that had been behind Dawn's back quickly. Dawn immediately wrapped her arms around his neck holding on for dear life. She turned bright red as she realized their cheeks were touching. Paul could practically feel the heat radiating from her face.

"Y-You j-jerk." She mumbled, cursing herself for stuttering. "I wasn't serious!"

"Who has their arms all over whom now?" Paul questioned innocently. Dawn flushed again, why wasn't he as humiliated as she was. In fact he didn't seem to be the least bit bothered. He couldn't be enjoying himself, could he?

"Put me down." She commanded stiffly. Paul shrugged at the command and slowly lowered the arm that had been under her knees till her feet touched the ground. Dawn didn't seem to notice but as her she placed all her weight on her left foot she leaned unconsciously towards Paul for support. He grasped her arm in response so she could stabilize herself.

"How does it feel?" he asked almost surprising Dawn with the placid tone. She looked at her ankle and frowned, it was already a bit swollen. And it hurt, but she didn't really want to tell Paul that. He would think she was weak, and he never did like weak things.

"I'm fine." She finally said smiling a bit. Dawn tried taking a step but winced instantly, Paul balanced her, one arm around her waist with the other one tightened on her arm. She looked up at him a little sheepishly as he glared at her.

"Why are you so stubborn? You can't walk with that ankle. Let me just-"

"Dawn is that you?" a voice called out from behind them. The pair turned around slightly to see who it was. Dawn's face brightened in the recognition.

"Zoey!" she called out happily in surprise. The red-head raised her eyebrows questionably at the predicament her friend was currently in. Dawn cocked her head slightly at Zoey's expression before realizing where exactly Paul had his hands.

"Am I missing something?" Zoey asked with amusement. Dawn blushed and instinctively pushed Paul away and to the ground.

"What the-"Unfortunately Dawn seemed to forget that holding on to Paul was the only thing keeping her standing, she swayed under her the support of her left foot before totally losing her balance and falling on top of Paul.

"Wah!"

"Umph!"

Dawn blinked as her bright sapphire orbs were extraordinarily close to a pair of deep violet ones. She felt, just for that moment, like she could stare into those eyes forever. That is until her ears finally started working again.

"Your…knee…my...stomach…get…OFF!" Paul managed to gasp out; Dawn squeaked and scrambled off the boy to sit on the ground carefully avoiding moving her sprained ankle. She was too busy trying to look anywhere but at the boy next to her to notice his red face.

"Oh so that's how it is." Zoey laughed at the two teenagers before receiving almost equally hateful glares, although Paul's was just a tad bit better since he had more experience.

"It's not like that!" they both exclaimed at once.

*****XXX*****

"Didn't Volkner tell you not to go in by yourselves?" Reggie sighed and rubbed his forehead. When the two teens had finally come back to the gym, Reggie wasn't sure whether to hug his brother or yell at him. Especially when Dawn had to limp back with her sprained ankle lagging behind her. And Paul was acting like none of this was a big deal at all. "What were you thinking? You both could have gotten caught easily, and then what?"

Paul rolled his eyes in the other direction trying to ignore his older brother's scoldings. Honestly, he knew his brother was just worried about him. But Reggie usually showed his protectiveness less subtly, and Paul had other things on his mind. When they had finally gotten back and the others asked what had happened, Paul didn't even have a chance to explain everything. Reggie interrupted as soon as he got to the part where they entered the secret room.

Paul sighed irritably as it seemed Reggie wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Besides everything they learned about in the base, Paul was anxious to tell Volkner about his suspicions concerning the lighthouse. But with a quick glance at the rest of the boys in the room, it seemed like they were all enjoying watching Paul get verbally abused. And then finally there was a part of him wondering whether Dawn was going to be okay. He wasn't worried, or at least that was what he told himself, he just didn't want her to become a burden because of her injury. Paul shifted uncomfortably; yeah that was exactly why he was thinking about her.

"Why do I get the impression that you aren't listening to a word I'm saying?" Reggie asked finally getting Paul's attention.

"Because I'm not." The purple haired boy responded lamely. Reggie groaned dropping his head in his hands.

"I have an easier way to resolve this." Volkner interrupted with a wave of his hands, "All in favor of agreeing that Paul was a total moron, for not only completely ignoring what I said, but dragging a girl down with him and getting her injured, say aye." Paul growled at the gym leader.

"Aye!" Volkner started smirking.

"Aye." Reggie said forcefully staring at Paul.

"Aye." Brock shrugged and grinned as Paul glared at him.

"Hi." Ash added happily.

"Pika." The electric mouse rounded off.

"That's five in favor, and Paul you?" Volkner asked teasingly. The boy twitched in response. "I'll take that as a yes. So Paul's a moron, let's move on if you don't mind." Volkner said towards Reggie. The breeder paused momentarily before nodding wearily. He shot his younger brother a look basically saying 'we're going to talk about to this later'. Paul groaned.

"Alright then," Volkner turned to Paul suddenly becoming serious, "I want details; everything you can tell me can be useful." Paul nodded; he hadn't planned on leaving anything out. Well maybe some parts from the end, he tried not to blush at the recalled memories and quickly shook his head turning to the other boys in the room.

*****XXX*****

"Well geez Dawn." Zoey scratched the back of her head looking a bit taken back, "Compared to me you have had quite an interesting few weeks. And I was so excited to tell you about the last contest I was in. Now all my stories seem so boring."

Dawn laughed at this, unable to help herself. After they had gotten back to the gym Zoey had taken her to the Pokémon center to get help with her ankle. After a nurse had wrapped it and strictly ordered the girl to stay at the center for a few more hours, the red headed coordinator found it necessary to inquire how she got injured. Zoey hadn't expected Dawn's long-drawn out story.

"I guess it has been crazy for the past couple of weeks, everything has been moving so quickly that I barely have had time to reflect." Dawn admitted sheepishly. She was so glad that Zoey was here, it was nice to have some girl company. Especially after only having five boys as your source for conversation.

"Yeah, well I'm jealous." Zoey replied, "Now that right there is what you call an adventure, you've got everything in there. Action, some good-guy versus bad-guy, adventure, mystery, and there is always some comedy if Ash is involved." Dawn giggled, which signaled her agreement.

"And maybe some romance?" Zoey laughed at the look that crossed her friend's face. Dawn blushed but recovered smoothly enough.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dawn replied nose in the air indigently.

"And with Paul of all people. That's the real kicker," Zoey continued ignoring Dawn's looks to be quiet, "As I recall he was a selfish jerk who was cruel to his Pokémon and hated happiness. Yeah I think I quoted that right."

"I said that about him?" Dawn asked frowning slightly, had her opinion of Paul really changed that drastically.

"That is what you said." Zoey nodded, "But I don't know, he seemed really nice. Holding you like that when you were injured. That's the kind of guy you need, kind and caring. Nice choice Dawn!" Zoey whipped a thumbs-up at her while winking.

"Har,har very funny." Dawn stuck her tongue out playfully, "Look after getting to know him for the past couple of weeks; I guess I understand his personality. It's not that he doesn't care its just-" she scrunched up her nose unable to convey how to say her next words, "I'm not sure. He won't really ever be nice, and jolly. But he just expresses himself differently, I guess."

"Well it's good that he at least has one person that understands him." Zoey smirked. But before Dawn could protest Nurse Joy was calling them over. Since Dawn was reluctant to move what with her ankle, Zoey walked over and was informed of a phone call for them. As she reached the phone she could already see the excited face of Ash.

"Hi Ash!" Zoey said smiling at the trainer.

"Hey Zoey!" Ash responded with a bright grin before having his face pushed aside momentarily as Pikachu wanted to wave too.

"Why hello Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Pikachu held up a victory sign before Ash got back on the screen.

"Yes, yes we are all so impressed. No, that wasn't sarcasm!" Ash said towards Pikachu before finally turning back to Zoey, "Anyway, how is Dawn?

"It's no big deal. In about two days she'll be all set and ready for this big break-in plan you guys have." Zoey responded.

"She told you about that?" Ash asked. "How much do you know?"

"Well, if Paul told you everything that happened at the warehouse then I think both of us are on the same page."

"I guess since it is you it will be okay, but anyway I called because Volkner is driving us to his house. And, he said there was a car coming to pick you guys up. We'll be staying there for the next two weeks."

"But why am I going?" Zoey asked with confusion. Ash shrugged.

"Volkner didn't say anything about you until after Paul told us everything. I think it has to do with the lighthouse."

"The lighthouse?" Zoey paused trying to remember what Dawn told her, "Oh, I remember but-"

"He just wants to make sure everyone is safe." Ash interrupted with a smile, "Besides, boring old Pokémon center or hooked up mansion." Zoey laughed, "I mean it's got to be cool right, look at what he has done to the city. I can't wait to see his house!"

"Alright, we'll see you there then. Bye Ash!"

"Bye Zoey!" As the call ended Ash left the room and headed to the entrance where everyone else was. As soon as Volkner saw him he led the group outside where a limo was parked. Volkner motioned for the rest of the group to follow him inside. Ash excitedly checked out each feature in the car, asking Volkner about everything. But the gym leader didn't seem to be paying attention; he was oddly quiet the entire time.

Reggie just sat quietly near the window. He looked up in surprise as Paul sat near him, his eyes downcast. Reggie's eyes narrowed at the guilty look on his little brother's face. An expression he rarely ever showed. Paul finally met his brother's gaze.

"Look I've been thinking about what you said earlier and I agree that what I did was stupid." Paul started cringing slightly.

"And selfish, rude, completely idiotic…" Reggie noted.

"Yeah, yeah." Paul scowled before sighing in defeat, "I'm sorry for worrying you." Reggie stared hard at his brother silently for a while. Paul met Reggie's eyes, he was genuinely sorry and he wanted his brother to know that.

"It's fine." Reggie finally replied, he paused a few moments longer before continuing.

"Paul…look just be safe, that's all I ask." Reggie said quietly, "We're all we have left." Paul's gaze shifted towards the window before nodding.

"Yeah, I know…"

*****XXX*****

When everyone had gotten to Volkner's very large house he had swiftly told his butlers to get hem rooms and to prepare dinner. Before anyone could so much as thank him, Volkner had left insisting he had some gym leader business that needed to be taken care of. With that everyone was soon assigned their own room with a private bathroom.

Dawn almost jumped in the air for joy at their sleeping arrangements before remembering her injury. The navy haired girl had just finished brushing her hair and sighed happily back at her reflection. Having her own bathroom really was great. As she limped back to her bedroom she was surprised to see Paul standing hesitantly at her opened doorway.

"Oh, there you are." He said. Dawn blinked at him before shaking her head.

"Well hello to you to." she crossed her arms and sent him a questionable look, "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I was just wondering how your ankle was." Paul said bluntly with a straight-face, Dawn's eyes widened. He frowned at the look he was receiving, "What?" he asked sourly.

"Oh, um it'll be okay. It's nothing really; they gave me some painkillers so I should be alright." Dawn explained smiled gently as he nodded.

"That's good." He sounded genuine which made Dawn feel oddly happy. "So anyway with everything that happened today we'll be discussing more about what to do tomorrow after breakfast, so don't oversleep." He finished with usual stoic face.

"But I need lots of sleep so I can keep up my beauty." Dawn pouted throwing her hair back behind her.

"You can't sleep forever." He replied impassively before ducking to avoid the pillow she threw at him. But she was still smiling and he even cracked a smirk. They stood there in silence for a few moments before Paul finally spoke up, "Look I know things got a little crazy today, so thanks for trusting me."

"Paul, I may find you annoying, I may think you are a jerk sometimes, I may even-"

"Is there a point to this?" Paul asked with a faint scowl, which faded a bit as Dawn laughed lightly.

"What I'm saying is despite all of that, I do trust you." She smiled at him. Paul almost looked ready to say something before just smirking and nodding his head.

"Thanks."

*****XXX*****

"Hey Paul, you came just in time!" Ash exclaimed as his rival descended the stairs. Paul looked up to see Ash and Brock in the living room with the biggest television set he had ever seen. As he got closer he saw that it was currently on the local news channel that was reporting some breaking news.

"What's going on?" Reggie asked from behind Paul, just now coming down the stairs himself.

"There is some news about Hunter J." That was all Brock needed to say in order to get both brothers' attention.

"There is breaking news concerning the developing the Hunter J storyline." A newswoman reported in an official tone, "Notorious for kidnapping trainer's Pokémon and selling them illegally for profit, Hunter J has been escaping from the police's grasp constantly. But just recently the police were able to track one of these illegal trades all the way here in Sunyshore. The man in question is supposedly linked to Hunter J; how exactly the police were able to deduce this and any other further information is yet to be disclosed."

As the woman continued to inform the audience on Hunter J's past kidnappings, a video showing the arrested man was being played. Reggie leaned in closer squinting, before his eyes widened dramatically. "I know that man." He said under his breath, before repeating it louder, "I know that man!"

"What?" Paul whipped back to his brother at his statement. "How?"

"He was the man at the Seal Market." Reggie said there was no mistaking it. That was the same man, the same man who sold him a poke ball.

*****XXX*****

Volkner leaned against the railway of the elevator shooting higher up the lighthouse a serious aura around him. After hearing Paul's explanation about everything Volkner couldn't help but get frustrated. He was almost mad at Paul for suggesting that there were spies right under his nose this entire time. But it made sense, all of what he said made sense. And Volkner was mad at himself that he hadn't even considered the possibility before.

As the elevator opened, the young man walked quietly towards the control room. He wasn't sure what he was hoping, or not hoping to find. But he couldn't just sit in his house doing nothing while there was a chance that the lighthouse he had taken care of was being used for dirty crimes. Volkner's fists clenched with anger, he would get to the bottom of this.

But just as he was in front of the door to the room he let out a deep breath trying to calm down. His fingers grazed against his belt to make sure he had all his Pokémon before opening the door. Volkner stepped inside, his eyes widened in disbelief. The room was empty, no one was here. This post was always supposed to have someone here to guide incoming ships in, at all times. This didn't make sense.

"What the-"his words were cut off as the door slammed shut. From outside the room the sound of the echo softly silenced until all that could be heard was a steady beeping noise.

* * *

Question everyone: would there be too many characters if I added just one more? I don't like need to add him/her, but I think it would make this story that more awesome. I added Zoey here because it seemed like everyone wanted Zoey, I know she didn't really do much yet but don't worry I got plans. Well that's everything, I'm sorry I threw so much at you this chapter. Please review!


	22. Night Fright

I'm terribly sorry this chapter took so long to write, I had plenty of time it was just that my writer's block prevented me from writing anything even halfway decent. I mean I wrote this chapter out at least five times each with completely different plots. Other than that my biggest problem was Dawn in crutches, yeah the ankle thing was cute but these crutches are annoying. Her only movement options are hobbling. Well in any case enjoy this update!

* * *

Ash was having a very pleasant dream. The one where he just became the greatest Pokémon master ever and he was at this gigantic reception celebrating his greatness. All his friends were there, his mom and his Pokémon...everyone important in the entire world. There for him, but most importantly there was food. Lots of food. All kinds of food. And everyone was having a fantastic time, eating and complimenting Ash about being an awesome Pokémon trainer. Because, well he was a Pokémon master now.

"Ash...Ash!"

"Yes...yes I'd like more sauce with that."

"What, Ash wake up!"

"Please, only one autograph per person-"

"ASH!" The raven-haired boy flew out of his bed at the sound raising his hands instinctively in a defensive stance.

"Who's there?" he whispered harshly trying to squint in the darkness

"Um, I'm over here" Ash whipped around and on the other side of his bed was Dawn staring at him strangely under the support of her crutches. "What exactly are you doing?"

"Huh?" Ash looked down to examine himself. He was in pajamas while attempting a pose similar to a Hitmolee about to launch into a series of punches. It took a few moments before he lowered his arms slowly. Dawn raised her eyebrows as if asking a question. He shook himself and straightened his back trying to act nonchalant. "What?"

"Is that what you would have done if there an actual burglar had attacked you?" Dawn shook her head sadly, "I'm a little scared for you honestly."

"Oh shut up," Ash grumbled rubbing the back of his head tiredly, "What are you even doing here, at...Dawn it's 4 clock. Why in the world did you wake me up?"

"I heard a noise downstairs." Dawn informed him with graveness. Ash stared at her blankly.

"That's it, you woke me up because of that?" he asked.

"What does that mean? Of course I did, what if-what if...stop looking at me like that." Dawn snapped, "This could be serious."

"May I remind you its four in the morning, can't you have your hallucinations later or something." He was too sleepy to avoid the blow to the head. "Ow, geez Dawn!"

"Look just, help me check it out. If you haven't noticed I'm a bit handicapped right now." Dawn plastered on the most pathetic, pleading look on her face. Ash yawned, stretching his arms.

"I can't see that lame look you're sending me so you can stop now." Ash informed her smugly, "But, I'll go with you anyway because I know you'll annoy me to death if I don't."

"Thanks! Come on lets go." Ash watched her hobble towards the door with disdain, she was way too perky at this time in the morning. He followed her with a sigh.

"Why did you wake me up anyway?" Ash whispered as they traveled down the hallway. Dawn looked over her shoulder questionably.

"Well, who else was I supposed to get?"

"I don't know, Paul maybe?" Dawn blushed at the thought, glad that Ash couldn't see the her face right now.

"I thought he would be too...grumpy to wake up."

"So you thought about waking him up then?" Ash grinned mischievously behind her. It wasn't like he hadn't noticed how close Paul and Dawn had gotten over the weeks, it was obvious even to him which was saying a lot considering how dense Ash was. Dawn was about to turn around to protest but almost stumbled under her crutches. "Whoa, watch out." Ash warned.

"Yeah, I think we should find a flash light."

"I have an idea, how about you go back to your room and I'll go downstairs." Ash suggested.

"No, if I don't come with you then I know you won't go." Ash grumbled to himself at being caught, "Now help me think, where would a flashlight be?"

"Well we had flashlights in all of our backpacks." Ash looked around the hallway. "So if we go into one of the rooms then we should essentially find a flashlight in the backpacks."

"Why does this sound like a bad idea?" Dawn asked. Ash didn't hear her as he went towards one of the closest doors. As he went inside he barely acknowledged the person sleeping in the bed. He tried looking for the backpack but he couldn't see anything.

"Dawn turn on the lights."

"I don't think that's a good idea." Dawn sighed to herself before flipping on the lights. She cringed from the brightness before finally focusing on the bed. "Is t-that Paul?"

"This is becoming way too complicated for my liking." Ash said as he too noticed it was Paul's room they had stumbled upon. He quickly looked around for Paul's backpack looking inside it quickly trying to find the flashlight. "Where is it?"

Dawn hesitantly hopped over to where Paul was sleeping. He was curled comfortably under his sheets; his head twisted facing her against his pillow. Dawn noticed how his hair was a little unkempt, and messy which was so unlike him. It really made Paul seem like a normal person. His mouth was slightly open and she could hear his soft intakes of breath and ensuing rise of his chest. Dawn smiled softly as she continued to stare; he seemed so peaceful like that.

"So are you done gazing lovingly at Paul?" Ash suddenly asked from behind her. Dawn whipped back to face him, not missing the knowing smirk on his face. He raised an eyebrow while also balancing a flashlight in his hand. She flushed instantly before pushing past the boy and towards the exit.

"Let's just go before he wakes up." she whispered.

"I knew it! You do have a thing for Paul don't you?"

"Can we not talk about this with him right in the room?" Dawn hissed.

"You didn't deny it." Ash remarked in a sing-song voice. She glared at him. "No need for an attitude."

"You know you aren't the most reliable person to go to when someone has trouble with their feelings." she whispered harshly. Ash seemed offended.

"What's that supposed to mean, I'm very reliable."

"But I would never tell you about my feelings."

"I happen to have a great way to deal with emotions."

"What the hell is going on here?"

Ash and Dawn turned around quickly at the sound of the low growl. Paul had rose up from the bed and was trying to glare at them, although it just ended up looking like he was squinting. Dawn looked horrified at the sight of him awake, did he hear them talking?

"I'm sorry Paul, but are those Mareep pajamas?" Ash snickered as Paul had frozen from the question.

"I-" he shook his head glaring at the two, "What are you two doing here?"

"So you didn't hear what we were talking about?" Dawn hurriedly asked. Paul looked at her confused.

"No, I didn't. Now would you be kind enough to tell me what you guys are doing here?" he was speaking through gritted teeth.

"Flashlight." Ash informed, showing him the object in his hand. Paul blinked at it.

"A flashlight?" Paul asked.

"A flashlight." Ash repeated cheekily.

"I heard a noise downstairs and we wanted to check it out, so we needed a flashlight to see where we were going, but could only come into your room, but we didn't know it was your room and then we got into an argument..." she trailed off at the blank look she was getting from Paul. "That's what happened."

"..."

"I guess we'll just go now." Ash tried leaving stopped when Paul wearily got out of the bed. "Um, do you have to go to the bathroom or something?"

"No," Paul walked up to them trying to stifle his yawn, he shot a look at Dawn "After being awoken by you two, I just can't sit here and pretend that nothing is going on while you two potentially make a bad situation worse. Let's go." And with that Paul grabbed the flashlight and took the lead. Ash and Dawn looked at each other with confusion before following him. Paul suddenly paused turning slightly towards Dawn.

"You shouldn't come; you'll just be a hindrance." Paul remarked coolly, Dawn bit her lip trying to suppress how much she wanted to whack the boy senseless. Beyond that it kind of hurt that Paul considered her a handicap, even if she was one.

"That's what I told her." Ash added in with a scoff.

"I'm coming; I'm the one who heard the noise so I am definitely coming. I don't care what you guys say." Dawn huffed; she eyed both boys with stubbornness flickering in her eyes. Paul and Ash knew that look and sighed in defeat, knowing that she wouldn't change her mind despite what they said.

"Now, Ash where were the stairs again?" Dawn asked, "Ash?"

"What? I'm not even functional at four, stop asking me the questions." Ash replied with annoyance he continued to rub his eyes.

"What time of day are you functional then?" Paul muttered.

"Ouch, geez. How can you be so nasty even this early in the morning?" Ash asked.

"It takes a lot of practice." Paul replied dryly.

"You know what you need," Ash seemed excited, "A hug."

"If you come near me you will soon be missing something important to your bodily functions."

"You know Paul; you really aren't as threatening at night. I don't know if it's the fact that there isn't any bright, light for you to suck dry or...because you're in pajamas."

"Ketchum..." Paul practically snarled.

"Would you two shut up?" Dawn squinted her eyes trying to get a better look ahead of her. "Flash the light over here would you-oh!" she almost tripped on the balcony of the staircase. "Okay, the stairs are over here."

"Wait," Ash's voice had lowered a few decibels, his eyes flickered around suspiciously, "Do you see that light over there?" All three of them looked at one of the doors in the hallway that had a dim light glowing underneath it.

"Hey isn't that Reggie's room?" Dawn asked. Paul's eyes narrowed.

"What is he still doing up?"

"Well, let's find out." Ash moved towards the door quietly, motioning for the other two to follow him. Reluctantly they did and soon the group found themselves crouched behind the door. Ash carefully turned the knob so he wouldn't make a sound. As he pushed the door open all three teens looked inside.

Reggie was sitting at a desk in the room almost half asleep. He had a poke-ball and was rolling it between his hands with purpose. Occasionally he would open it and observe the inside, only to close it again. He kept muttering to himself, but it was indiscernible. Ash closed the door again quietly.

"What was he doing?" Ash asked after they had moved away from the door. Paul and Dawn passed each other similar looks, not having a clue either.

"Whatever he is doing could probably wait till the morning." Paul grumbled, casting his gaze to the side with annoyance. "How's he going to be useful if doesn't get any sleep?"

"Quick, get out a camera I think Paul is actually caring about someone other than himself-Ow!"

"We'll figure out what was going out tomorrow." Dawn whispered, "Look, we still haven't figured out what made that noise yet. Come on, let's go downstairs."

"...Where were the stairs again?"

"I think they were over, here maybe?" Dawn cautiously said.

"You probably shouldn't go first since you're crippled." Paul advised

"It's so sweet how much you care about Dawn." Ash cooed softly.

"W-What-t are you talking about?"

"Shut up, and move forward idiot." Paul shoved the other trainer with his elbow.

"Ow! You pushed me into a wall!"

"I think the stairs are right here. Go ahead, one of you." Dawn said.

"Why can't you go first?" Paul asked.

"I'm in crutches; if I fall I'll land on top of you and still be okay."

"...I'm so glad you're thinking ahead."

"Stop pushing me, I'm climbing downstairs. I could trip and fall and then- I said stop pushing me!"

"I can't see a thing, where are we going? Are we even going downstairs?"

"Careful, watch where you step."

"Aw, thanks Paul."

"I wasn't talking to you moron."

"So you were worried about Dawn the-"

"Shut up!"

"Dawn! Poking me we those crutches aren't helping the situation at all."

"I'm not poking you on purpose, I'm trying to find somewhere to put the-oh shoot!" Dawn leaned forward when her crutches where still mid-air. She fell forward slamming into Ash, who was then pushed into Paul. In an instant the three teens were in a jumble at the bottom of the stairs. Paul had lost the flashlight in the sudden motion.

"I think I broke something." Ash moaned rubbing his arm.

"Why do you keep falling on top of me?" Paul hissed at Dawn. She blinked at him before rising up fully and examining herself.

"Hey guys, no worries I'm alright." Dawn exclaimed, she pouted at the glares she was receiving from both the boys, "Don't give me that look. Now help me up-don't you dare ignore me!"

"How have we not waken everyone in this house yet?" Ash asked getting up slowly.

"I should have just checked on this by myself..." Paul muttered. As he got up he carefully looked around the area wondering where the sounds could have been coming from. Ash was soon to follow, with Dawn trying to keep up with them.

"Slow down guys!"

"You're the one that insisted on coming."

"I think the kitchen is over here." Ash said quickly moving forward towards the room.

"Wait, why are we going to the kitchen?"

"Just let him go." Paul sighed rubbing his forehead. "Now, where do you think you heard the sound from?" Paul asked turning to Dawn. She was about to answer but was then suddenly interrupted.

"WAHH!"

Dawn and Paul looked at each other startled before Paul rushed towards the kitchen. He looked in to see Ash breathing hard against the counter with another man standing a few feet away with his hands up. Paul looked between the two with confusion.

"Ah, hello! I didn't mean to-" the man started but was soon interrupted.

"What's going on-" Dawn finally made it to the kitchen; she blinked at the sight of the mysterious man standing in the kitchen, "AH! Who are you?" she exclaimed almost falling over.

"Erm...um, well this is complicated...I-"

"What happened?" Everyone looked up as Reggie burst in on the scene; Brock was close behind him carrying Pikachu with gloves on. They both focused their attention on the stranger in the middle of the kitchen. Since there were no lights they couldn't recognize anyone.

"Who in the world are you?" Reggie asked trying to look at the kitchen's occupants.

"I have a pissed off Pikachu and I'm not afraid to use it!" Brock threatened holding up the electric mouse. Pikachu looked about ready to explode.

"I just was about to open the fridge and this guy pops out of nowhere." Ash tried explaining.

"Who are you talking to? Ash, you're staring at the window." Dawn tried moving towards the boy but bumped into the counter.

"I swear I didn't mean to scare anyone-"

"Where are you...whoever you are?

"I'm-"

"Who keeps touching me?"

"I found the lights!"

Suddenly the kitchen was filled with overwhelmingly bright light. Everyone initially squinted from the intensity before slowly adjusting and looking around. Reggie's mouth almost dropped when he recognized the person in the kitchen.

"Flint?"

* * *

"I'm so glad one of you recognized me." Flint rubbed the back of his afro with a sheepish grin. The group had settled arounf the dinning room table. Reggie smiled politely. Paul and Dawn looked warily at the older man. Ash's head was face planted on the table. Flint smiled nervously at the pair of teens, "Uh, do you two recognize me?"

"Uh..." Dawn wasn't sure what to say, especially when she still had no idea who this person was and yet Reggie still invited him to sit down at the table. Not to mention that it was still only 5:00 in the morning.

"What would an elite four member be doing sneaking around houses so early in the morning?" Paul suddenly asked. Dawn turned to Paul sharply in suprise and Ash's head shot up instantly. Paul's eyes were still focused on Flint. Reggie looked between the two cationsly.

"Paul." he said with a warning voice.

"What?" Paul shot back, glaring over at his brother. "Don't you think it's completely strange?"

Dawn and Ash glanced over at the man. Flint didn't seem too worried by the question that Paul had asked him. But they couldn't help but think that Paul has a good point, what was this guy doing this early in the morning at Volkner's house. Reggie didn't say anything, flickering his gaze between Paul and Flint.

"It's a very good question." Flint laughed, "You see I'm a good friend of his. May I mind asking why you all are here?"

"Uh, we were invited to stay here for awhile as his guests." Reggie replied. Flint blinked at him, rapidly.

"I'm sorry, Volkner invited you over as his guests?" Flint looked at them strangely. "Well, that doesn't sound like him at all."

"Alright, alright I'll ask the question on everyone's mind." Dawn interrupted, "Why exactly did you come here at this time in the morning." Flint kept silent at this.

"You know if this has to do with Volkner, you can tell us." Reggie mentioned quietly. Flint glanced off at the side.

"Where is Volkner?" the elite four member asked.

"Brock went to go get hi-"

"Hey guys, Volkner isn't here!" Brock rushed into the room. Everyone looked up at him startled at the news. Flint's eyes glinted sharply at the news.

"What do you mean he isn't here?"

"Volkner said yesterday that he was going to check out the light house." Reggie said, "But if he isn't back yet...I don't know what happened."

"Which one of you thought the light house was the source of all this trouble?" Flint suddenly asked.

"Wait, what?" Paul asked, "How do you know about that?" Flint smiled at him.

"You must be Paul, and you're Dawn right?" Flint cast his gaze back at Dawn who looked suprised that he addressed her. He smirked at her before turning to Brock, "And you're Brock, you're Reggie. And lastly it's Ash, right?" There was a elongated silence.

"...Well I'm officially creeped out." Dawn announced.

"So, how much did Volkner tell you?" Reggie asked seriously. Everyone glanced at him at this, Flint just kept smiling.

* * *

Okay well that was just pure fun with no real plot till the end, I've had trouble writting this last chapter so writing this kind of got me over that bump. I mean I haven't updated in so long, so I thought I might as well post this up. I'm sorry if you expected more, but I think it's safe to assume an update with much more action soon. I have this adorable Paul/Dawn scene that I'm dying to write, so I'm going to start wrtiting it as soon as this is posted. So keep the reviews coming and I'll update really soon. How about this, if I get to 200 reviews I'll update that day.


	23. Chapter 23

Yay, I updated. I bet you all are wondering why this took so long. Well, why is the sky blue? Why can't penguins fly? Why is Pokémon so awesome? Just like there are answers for those questions, there is a reason why this took so long. But you I know you all will scoff at the generic-ness. Instead of that I offer this chapter, now go read:D

* * *

"…And that is everything I know." Flint finished off; he stifled a yawn glancing at the clock. It blinked 7:00

"Why did that take so long?" Ash commented stretching on the sofa, Pikachu curled up tighter on his lap. They had gathered in the living room to hear Flint's story. From what they had gathered so far Flint had recieved a phone call from Volkner. Apparently the gym leader had made the call when he was going to the lighthouse, from there Volkner had told Flint everything about the situation. But they couldn't help but still feel a little wary.

"So, you basically know everything?" Paul asked not exactly pleased that Volkner simply shared this information without telling anyone.

"Well, I suppose." Flint smiled at him, "You don't sound happy about the extra helping hand."

"Volkner said himself to keep the knowledge about Team Plasma and Hunter J to ourselves in case anything leaked." Paul explained not trying to expel the coldness from his voice, "I don't know if getting involved with a League member is the best way to keep things under wraps." Flint laughed at this, way too joyful for this time in the morning.

"That sounds like something Volkner would say, he's never been too fond of how nosy the League can get. And he was right, if the League found out Team plasma would somehow find out and get out of town as soon as possible."Flint continued to smile reassuringly, "But no worries. Volkner wouldn't tell that kind of information to just anybody. He trusts me; we've been friends for a while."

"It's not you we're really worried about," Reggie said, "It's the League."

"The League doesn't know I'm here."

"They what?" Brock exclaimed. He knew how strict they could get since he used to be a gym leader. "Are you allowed to do that?" he asked.

"Hey, give me a break. I am an Elite Four member." Flint answered, he then glanced away looking slightly cross, "Besides I'm tired of being held by a leash by them." He turned to them when there was silence, he noticed their concerned looks. Flint waved them off, "Stop looking so worried. I told them I'm doing some private training, no questions asked."

"So there won't be a problem?" Dawn asked.

"Shouldn't be."

"Okay fine then, next question." Paul continued feeling only slight better about the young man, "So you said that Volkner called you right before he was about to get to the lighthouse and that's when he told you everything. Well, I still don't understand why you are here, and why you came at like four in the morning? Did he ask you to come?"

Flint snorted, "Volkner asking for help? Yeah. Right. Look the situation sounded pretty bad to me. I mean essentially it was six trainers, three teenagers and three young adults, against an entire organization that has been terrorizing this region for years." He paused before adding, "And throw in that Hunter J chick. Did you guys even think about the odds?"

"I guess we were more preoccupied with finding the bases." Ash remarked, the odds didn't really seem in their favor.

"I'm not saying it's impossible, I'm just saying that you might need a little help. Six people against all the evil in Sunyshore, eh. Seven people, and now we have something."

"That is still not very convincing." Dawn muttered. Flint ignored this.

"Volkner only told me about everything in case something did happen, like if he took a misstep. Which was why I hurried over here, I was hoping to catch up with you guys before you tried anything. Guess I was too late."

"What do you mean?" Brock asked.

"Well, he isn't here."

"Wait, so you don't know where Volkner is?" Paul asked, he thought for sure that Flint knew. The man shrugged at the question.

"I was hoping you guys would know, or that he would be here." Suddenly for the first time Flint looked serious, "Seems like something might have happened at that lighthouse."

"Well shouldn't we go see what happened?" Ash looked alarmed glancing around for support.

"And walk right into a trap? That's a bad idea Ash." Brock reasoned. Flint frowned about to say something but deciding to keep quiet.

"Guess our best bet is to just wait for Volkner."

"What if something happened to him?" Dawn asked worriedly.

"Whatever did happen to him, I wouldn't get too antsy about it. He's one of the toughest gym leaders in this region, probably in the world. He knows how to take care of himself." Flint genuinely didn't seem to be fretful at all. For some reason this helped ease everyone else's tension as well, even if it was only by a bit.

"But what if Team Plasma captured him." Ash brought up the worst case scenario.

Flint smirked with confidence, "I bet Volkner would have let them catch him just so he could infiltrate their base. He isn't stupid, he plans pretty far ahead."

"Really?" Paul asked sarcastically, "Didn't seem to think too far ahead when he skipped on over to the lighthouse."

"That's what you would think." Flint smirked almost challenging Paul. The younger boy glared at him but kept silent. "Then that's the plan?"

"I suppose…"Reggie seemed reluctant but nodded, "We'll give Volkner a day, if we still don't get in contact with him then-"

"We'll discuss what happens when we reach that point." Flint finished for him a little forcefully. He got up stretching a bit, "I think I'm up for some breakfast, what about you guys?" Everyone seemed a little startled at the abrupt change in the subject; Brock was the first to respond.

"Oh, I'll get something started." Brock then left the room mumbling to himself. Ash waggled his eyebrows as Brock passed him by on the way to the kitchen.

"I heard him say something about waffles." Ash seemed giddy.

"Waffles?" Dawn looked excited, "I don't think I've ever had Brock's waffles before."

"Oh goodness, you haven't lived yet Dawn." Ash shook his head. Dawn giggled at this but stopped when she felt someone's eyes on her. She turned to see Flint looking at her, or more accurately her ankle.

"Busted your ankle, huh?" Flint asked.

Dawn nodded, "It was Paul's fault." The boy scoffed.

"How's it my fault that you're clumsy."

"Dawn," Reggie walked over to her and smiled kindly, "I think it would be a good idea if you went back to bed."

"Oh I'm fine Reggie; I'm not tired at all." Dawn insisted, "I guess all the energy in here is keeping me awake."

"Actually I'm pretty sure Reggie wants you to rest that ankle of yours." Flint said. Dawn blinked glancing back at her ankle.

"But I-"

"If you stay off your feet for today then I'm sure your ankle will have healed by tomorrow. We just want you to get better as soon as possible." Reggie added in the last part when Dawn's expression dropped.

"Oh okay." She really wasn't in the mood to be cooped up in a room all day. She took a few steps with her crutches and almost fell over. Flint managed to straighten her before she could fully fall down.

"Thanks." She said shyly.

"Told you she was clumsy." Paul mumbled. Dawn sent him a glare.

"Do you want me to take you upstairs?" Flint then asked with an endearing smile. Dawn seemed surprised at the question. Paul also seemed surprised.

"No, thanks. I think I can make it-oops!" Once again she almost fell. And if her cheeks weren't red enough from the initial embarrassment she could probably stop traffic when Flint actually picked her up. She was about to protest but he once again smiled and her argument died instantly. It wasn't that she liked Flint in that way or anything. It was just that he was an Elite Four member, and he was carrying her. It was just, awkward.

She could hear Ash snickering and she tried not to blush harder; little did she know that Ash was laughing not at her but at Paul, who currently looked like he was about to throttle Flint.

"It isn't a problem." Flint said and he held her like a gentleman and Dawn felt a just bit more comfortable. She could faintly feel a pair of eyes glued on the back of her head but before she could look, Flint started climbing the staircase.

"Did you see that?" he asked grinning mischievously when they almost reached the second floor. Dawn blinked at him not knowing what he was talking about. "Which one is your room?"

"Ah, that one over there." Dawn pointed, "Wait, what did you see?"

"The look on Paul's face. He was about to _kill_ me." Flint seemed thrilled with this. "He just really isn't pretty when he's jealous, is he?"

"Jealous?" Dawn was confused, "Why would he be jealous of you?"

"Why would he?" Flint asked, before smiling again "Cause I'm carrying you. I had a feeling he had a thing for you. And that look on his face was case and point. Ah, young love."

"I think y-you misunderstood!" Dawn fumbled to say, a little shocked at what Flint was insinuating. She blushed; Paul had a thing for her? Flint just kept smiling.

"You like him too, don't you?" Dawn could not answer this. "Oh, look we're here." Pretending as if their conversation had never happened he gently deposited her on the bed, careful with her ankle.

"Thank you Flint, you didn't have to do that." Dawn said gratefully.

"It was worth it." He shrugged. Suddenly he reached into the drawer of her bedside table and pulled out a bell, he slapped it on the surface of the small table. Dawn blinked at it.

"That's a…"

"A bell, if you need anything just ring." Flint winked at her and headed to the door, leaving the girl confused as to why there was a random bell inside the drawer. He closed the door softly as he left.

Flint whistled quietly heading towards the stairs when someone bumped into him. He turned around to see a fuzz of red hair right under his chin.

"Er…sorry," came a groggy voice. Flint blinked at the young woman who appeared to have just woken up. She was rubbing her eyes insistently before finally lowering her hands. She blinked at him for a few seconds before finally recognizing the features.

"Wah!" she yelped jumping back, what was an Elite Four member doing here? She only distantly made out that he was stifling a bout of laughter.

"Good morning to you too!" Flint said cheerfully waving at her before climbing down the stairs; he sent her one last knowing look, "Nice hair!"

Zoey blinked several times. She then tentatively looked around before pinching herself. Zoey winced, alright she wasn't dreaming.

*****XXX*****

It didn't take long to explain the situation to Zoey; she was gradually accepting the weirdness of what was going on with this group. Although she was getting annoyed at Flint's constant mention of their similar hair colors. They were currently sitting at the breakfast table; Reggie and Brock were in the kitchen preparing breakfast for everyone.

Zoey tried not to intervene between Ash and Paul's discussion about battling styles. Or the remnants of that argument, it had smoothly transformed into a petty fight over…well she was having a hard time figuring that part out.

"I wish my I.Q was low enough so that I could understand your argument."

"You know with that pleasing attitude you'll go far Paul, I hope you stay there."

Zoey blinked between them, it had gotten even worse when the food came and Ash started eating and talking at the same time. So half the time no one could understand any of Ash's half-witty responses to Paul's criticism of his intelligence. But other that this was all just so stimulating.

Flint had been watching them with amusement obvious in his features. He was more than enjoying himself. Zoey also noted that if Paul wasn't mouthing off snidely at Ash he sent spiteful looks towards Flint. He in return seemed to grin wider at each glare.

"What's Paul's problem?" Zoey muttered so the other two trainers couldn't hear her. Flint smiled at the question.

"Oh, teenage problems." And Zoey zipped her mouth after that deciding that she didn't want to know anymore. She then looked around.

"Hey where's Dawn?" she suddenly asked.

"Oh," Ash managed to hear her and turned to answer her question, "Reggie thought it would be a good idea if she rested her ankle for today so she is in her bedroom.

Zoey nodded in understanding, "That makes sense, that way she'll be ready for whatever we're getting ourselves into."

"Yeah," Flint said shifting his gaze towards Paul, "It seemed pretty obvious she needed some rest. So I carried her upstairs to her room. You know she's very light, and her skin was very soft-"

Paul suddenly shot up mumbling about something about helping with the food and quickly leaving. Ash smirked and sent Flint a thumb up. Zoey couldn't help but let out a small smile herself.

"You're only here for a day, and you're already playing matchmaker." Zoey asked Flint.

"I'm just doing what needs to be done; besides the kid makes the funniest faces when he gets jealous." Flint shrugged, "I'm doing it more for myself really."

"I see."

"Hey, you two up for something a bit adventurous." Flint suddenly asked his voice tinted with excitement. Ash and Zoey shared a similar confused look before turning back to the older boy.

*****XXX*****

"Here" Reggie pushed the tray forcefully into Paul's hands; his brother stumbled slightly before glancing down at the food on the plate. They were still in the kitchen cleaning up as Brock had gone to go take a shower.

"I already ate." Paul said stiffly looking back up, Reggie smiled good-naturedly.

"Not for you, there is a girl up there probably starving to death." Reggie winked at him, "Maybe if you feed her she'll show you some gratitude." Paul glared daggers at his older brother.

"Why don't you do it since you like pleasing people so much?"

"Paul, you realize it's normal to want to please people." Reggie said, he paused before shrugging "Besides it is your fault that she's injured."

"Would you stop saying that, it wasn't my fault." Paul protested, this was getting old.

"Yes it was. And anyway you feel guilty about it don't you?" Reggie smiled when Paul lowered his gaze with a scowl, "Exactly, now go off."

"Hey, hey Paul!" Ash had rushed into the kitchen and adjusted the glasses he was wearing and smugly smiled at his rival, "How do I look?"

"It's like staring into the sun." Paul replied barely glancing at the other boy.

Ash didn't seem bothered by the slight, "I think these are supposed to actually help with that." The boy replied cheerfully before Zoey finally snatched the sunglasses back. Ash, however, already noticed the food in Paul's hand.

"Hey, that looks good." Ash said reaching for it only for Paul to shift away with a glower.

"It's not for you, besides you already ate. Like half of the food we made"

"Fine, who's it for? Dawn?" Ash asked.

"Yes, but Paul refuses to give it to her." Reggie supplied, shaking his head at Paul. Flint smirked mischievously.

"Hey, I'll take it to her for you." Flint offered enjoying the expression on Paul's face. The purple haired boy scowled at him and headed for the stairs himself.

"I'll take it myself." He sent one final cold look at Flint, who smiled cheerfully in return, before climbing upstairs. Reggie watched him go before turning to the other three trainers. They looked about ready to take off someplace. He looked at them warily.

"Where are you guys going?" he asked. Zoey sighed.

"I don't know how, but I was roped in to checking out the lighthouse with these two." She said throwing her thumb at the other two. Ash bobbed his head in agreement.

"Wait, what? I thought we agreed to wait for Volkner." Reggie looked up at Flint.

"That's not going to get us anywhere; we'll still wait to see if he'll ever show up. But in the meantime we can see if there are any clues at the lighthouse."

"But what if there is a trap there!" Reggie cried.

"No worries Reggie, I already called up. The regular security personal is already back at the lighthouse since it was supposed to re- open today. Even if the spies are still there they can't do anything about it."

Reggie thought for a moment, "No, I don't this is a good idea."

"This is our best shot Reggie." Ash mentioned, "We have to check it out, and the sooner the better." Reggie shifted his gaze towards Flint, he nodded and smiled. Reggie sighed reluctantly.

"Fine, but if anything happens get out of there immediately. Be careful, and come back as soon as you guys can."

"You know Reggie you're really sweet, always worrying about everyone." Zoey smiled at the older boy, "I much prefer your attitude as opposed to your brother."

"Speaking of the stick in the mud, you probably shouldn't tell him we're leaving. He'll want to follow us." Ash said.

"Why aren't you bringing him along?" Reggie asked.

"Because Dawn needs someone to keep her company." Ash said this as if it was common sense.

"Oh I see." They all laughed at the thought of the two teens stuck with each other for the rest of the day.

*****XXX*****

Dawn groaned rolling her head back; she was way too bored stuck in her bed. And hungry, she was really hungry. She glanced over at the little bell sitting on the night table. Hesitantly she pressed the button and waited patiently after the pleasant 'ding' noise subsided. A few moments past and it seemed obvious no one seemed to be coming to her aid, she glared at the bell. Flint lied.

"Zoey!" she tried instead hoping that her rival was somewhere on the top floor. Apparently she wasn't seeing as Dawn didn't get a response for about five minutes. Great, she was stuck in here _healing_ while everyone else was stuffing their faces and probably planning everything for tomorrow. In fact it wouldn't surprise her if they decided to leave her behind all together. Dawn growled at the thought, but was interrupted from her train of thought when her stomach growled louder pleadingly.

"Ugh…why haven't I been fed yet?" Dawn sent one final deploring look at the door, "…Fine, I guess I'll have to get their attention some other way." Unfortunately she couldn't hobble downstairs because they had taken away her crutches, leaving her helpless.

"They're trying to get rid of me," she muttered, "Trapping me in a room, stealing my crutches so I can't move, and then starving me…" Before her thoughts about her betrayal could get anymore preposterous Dawn noticed her bag a few feet away from her. It sat slouched in the chair allowing her a clean view of her precious poke balls sparkling similarly to a lost treasure.

"Aha!" she smirked deviously before trying to ponder how to reach the bag. If Dawn could get to her Pokémon they could help her. Now there was the problem of getting there. She couldn't walk there, obviously. She couldn't teleport there…so that just left her to…

She planted her good foot on the ground and eased her weight on it. And then started hopping as quickly as she could towards the chair, and she had almost made it there. But of course she couldn't keep her balance, and she ended up falling. When Dawn hit the floor she had been careful to avoid injuring her ankle. She looked up; the chair was only a few feet away. Dawn could crawl there, and she did exactly that.

But she was interrupted when Paul walked into the room.

Dawn looked up from the floor with wide, sapphire orbs. Paul looked down at her as if he half-expected to find her in this situation. He sighed wearily and muttered something to himself while putting down the tray of food he had brought with him on the bed. Paul then turned to look at Dawn, who was eyeing the food.

"I could ask what you're doing," Paul started, "Or. Leave and pretend I didn't see anything."

"It's not like you caught me doing something scandalous." She insisted trying to lift herself off the ground, and failing. She would be more embarrassed about this situation if she wasn't in such a bad mood. Before she could fall for the fourth time Paul had caught her by the shoulders. Dawn blushed and looked towards the food in hopes of distracting her from how warm Paul's hands were. Ah, the food smelled delicious and she suddenly felt dizzy. And it was only because of the food, not Paul. Another wave of dizziness hit her before Dawn controlled herself.

"You brought be breakfast." She stated trying to ignore her growling stomach.

"Technically it's brunch." He still hadn't removed his hands from her shoulders even though Dawn had stabilized herself.

"Technically you shouldn't leave a crippled girl trapped in a room without food." Dawn calmly replied, "Terrible things could happen."

"Is that why you were crawling on the floor?" Paul responded not sounding interested in the response, only that he had caused her to blush again. Dawn growled at the satisfied smile on Paul's face that annoyed her enough to brush his hands off her shoulders. She grabbed the chair next to her before she could topple again, yeah she learned from her mistakes.

Except…

She looked over at the bed. It was very far away. And the only way to get there was to crawl again. Dawn glanced at Paul still looking at her expectantly. She was _not_ going to crawl again. She could hop over there on one foot… and of course end up falling again. In front of Paul. Yeah, right. It made more sense to just stand right here, if she doesn't move she can't embarrass herself.

But the food was over there, and she was oh so very hungry.

"You want me to carry you?"

"Wha-"Dawn whipped to look at him surprisingly. His demeanor didn't change coolly returning her gaze. She quickly regained herself straightening.

"Well, I don't want you to carry me. I need you to."

"Oh, so now you need me." He asked smirking inwardly at the flustered girl "Didn't think you'd get so sentimental."

"That's…not what I meant." She spluttered helplessly. "J-Just…gah, you're impossible you know that?" Paul laughed, one of his real laughs. The kind that made Dawn squirm because of the funny feeling in her stomach. And then her stomach growled again and she practically snapped at Paul "Pick me up and take me to that bed!"

She closed her eyes not willing to see the silent smile on Paul's face. Because she did know the awkward phrasing of her command, and she did not want to deal with his smugness right now. Dawn also tried to will the blood rushing to her face to redirect to her head so she could think straight. But any hope of that was vanquished when Paul finally slipped both his arms under her, easily picking her up.

A few, impossibly long, moments later and he gently placed her back on the bed. As he retreated his arms Dawn quietly noted how much more she enjoyed being carried by Paul than Flint, not that she would tell him that. And what was that Flint was talking about before? These thoughts however abandoned her when she finally saw the food on the tray and dug in hungrily.

Waffles coated in gooey syrup, toast with a smear of butter, and a tall glass of orange juice. Dawn sighed in appreciation; she could already feel her bad mood lifting. She cheerfully continued to eat her meal and glanced back up at Paul with a smile.

"Thanks for bringing me my break- er, brunch." She offered after swallowing her last bite.

"Don't mention it." He gruffly replied before glancing back at her, "You realize how stupid you looked a few moments ago."

"Yeah, I suppose." Then she giggled almost nervously, "I guess I was desperate."

"You kind of went through dramatic change in attitude right now." Paul noted with raised brows. Dawn pouted slightly at this.

"I was hungry, so I get a little strange when I'm hungry besides," she pushed the tray off her lap, "You still seemed to enjoy teasing me regardless."

"You're easy to make fun of, what can I say." And surprisingly he sat down besides her. He looked slightly uncomfortable as if he regretted the action so Dawn quickly smiled at him hoping to reassure him. "Whether you are pissed off annoyed, or just optimistically annoying."

She let the insult slide, "Well which one do you prefer?"

"Either one," he shrugged and carelessly continued, "as long as it's you it doesn't matter." Wow, Dawn thought as she looked away timidly. That sounded almost like a compliment.

"In case you're wondering we still haven't figured out what we're going to do yet." Paul quietly continued.

"Good. I thought I was going to be left out." She kicked him playfully with her foot, "Don't think you can leave me behind that easily." Her soft laughter died down when Paul stiffened. "What's wrong?"

"…I was just thinking that maybe you should stay out whatever else happens."

"What!" Dawn stared at him incredulously, "No, of course I'm coming."

"I think it's a bad idea." Paul replied instantly, she noticed his voice was a little cold. "It'd be better if you stayed here, maybe with Zo-"

"What part of no don't you get Paul?" Dawn irritably said trying to keep her voice calm, "I want to get Chimchar back too you know. I'm a part of this!" Was this about her ankle? She back-tracked at this, maybe he was just concerned about her getting re-injured. That made her considerably less angry.

For some reason his silence made her even angrier. Why was he suddenly brining this up? Was it because of her ankle? Or was it because he didn't trust…did he think she was a liability?

"My ankle will be fine by tomorrow." She said in a gentler tone, gazing at him curiously "You heard what Reggie said."

"That's not why I…" he trailed off still refusing to meet her gaze. There was another silence that filled the room. Dawn couldn't help but think that this wasn't about her ankle but about her. Did he think she was a liability? That idea of that hurt, she desperately wanted to help Paul. But if he thought that she should would impair his chances at getting Chimchar back…

"Do you think I'm weak?" she asked sadly. He raised his head with a confused look.

"What are you talking about?"

"You don't want me to be involved anymore because I'll slow you down, am I right?" Dawn spat this out bitterly.

"Don't be stupid." He muttered.

"Then why don't you want me come?" Dawn asked with frustration glaring at him.

"Why does it matter? I'm saying it'll just be a better idea-"

"Because I won't get in the way!" she finished for him miserably.

"That's not it!" his voice had risen in protest.

"Then tell me why!"

"I don't want to see you get hurt again!" he practically shouted. Dawn's eyes widened at his outburst. Paul froze completely; he looked just as surprised at what he just said. Suddenly Paul's face flickered back into a hardened look and turned around storming towards the door.

"Paul! Wait!" But it was too late and the boy had left the room.

*****XXX*****

"Yeah, Ash ate all of them so we ran out." Reggie was speaking into a phone to Brock who had went to gather some supplies, apparently the younger man was planning a extravagant meal considering how many more people would be joining them for dinner. He distantly thought about Ash, Zoey, and Flint wondering if they would be back in time for dinner…or back at all. Reggie blinked shaking his head, "Sorry, what? Oh okay, yes that's fine. Alright, see you soon."

He put down the phone and instead directed his attention to the object in his other hand. The poke ball he had bought from that mysterious vendor who had been connected to Hunter J. He had stayed up all night examining it hoping to find something. His thoughts were interrupted when Paul came down the stairs. Reggie watched him carefully noticing that the younger boy seemed tense.

Paul blinked when he saw Reggie before noticing what he was holding in his hand.

"You've been all over that thing since yesterday. We saw you examining it before Flint broke in." Paul narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "What is so special about that thing, it's a poke ball."

"It's…nothing." Reggie replied softly only half-lying, but Paul could tell something was wrong. Reggie sighed glancing away. Even though it was linked to Hunter J indirectly it really did seem useless. Reggie had inspected the thing in and out and thoroughly with great care. But for all intents and purposes it was a poke ball. A normal, average poke ball. And Reggie just did not feel like raising Paul's hopes right now.

So he changed the subject, "How's Dawn?" Reggie curiously noticed the look that had formed on his little brother's face for a split second; it had instantly been replaced with a blank slate.

"Bored." He finally replied with a grunt.

"Entertain her then." Reggie offered sincerely.

"What do you want me to do, sing for her?" Paul scoffed glaring off to the side.

"Oh no, your singing voice is terrible."

"Reggie." Paul practically growled.

"I'm just being honest."

"Where is everyone else?" Paul suddenly asked looking around, now he wanted to change the subject. He really wanted to change the subject.

"They went out to get some supplies." Reggie lied still smiling. Paul's eyes lingered on him a moment too long but seemed to accept the answer.

"…I was going to ask Ash for a battle." Paul admitted. "Because I need to get some training done, all this waiting is getting me antsy." He lifted his head with a questionable look, "What're we going to do if Volkner doesn't come back? Are we going to go back to the Plasma base, but then wha-"

"Paul." Reggie stopped him, "We'll get to that if we have to. Just wait, by tonight you'll have an answer alright?" Paul eyed him for a moment before mumbling to himself and heading outside through the back door, his hands clenched around the poke balls in his pocket unusually tight.

It was only then that Reggie noticed the small cell phone sitting ideally on the coffee table. He blinked, not recognizing it as anyone else's. He picked it up and hesitated before finally turning it on. While it was loading he figured the device belonged to Flint, what with the flame design on the home screen. Reggie had an idea of what might be on the phone; Flint did say that Volkner had a conversation with him before.

Reggie quickly looked through the phone to see whether there were any other calls or voice messages from Volkner; he didn't find anything. It's not like he was expecting something, but still it would have been nice. He was about to place the phone back when it suddenly vibrated in his hand. Reggie brought the phone closer as the screen flashed two messages.

Reggie's eyes widened, they were both from Volkner.

* * *

Hey,hey YOU! Yeah, you, the person who so obviously loves this story yet refuses to review. And that person next to you who has favorited this story, and continues to miss the review button at the bottom of this page. It says review on it, click it. It's like magic, a box appears and you can type in it. Let's hope they're kind words.

I feel like if I try giving you an idea about when the next chapter is coming out…well I would be lying. I don't feel like doing that, I will try my best and we'll see what happens.


	24. Chapter 24

Oh look who's back…

I TOLD you I couldn't promise an update soon. But I did update, aren't you all happy? Hello? Oh well, I guess I should explain. Among the other various jaded excuses the main reason I didn't update was because I reached a point in this story where I didn't exactly know where it was going. From about chapter 4 onwards I had this thing planned all the way up to them getting to Sunyshore. I stopped planning after that and winged the last couple of chapters, so I found myself in the predicament of not knowing what to write. The dilemma has been fixed however, so no more months of waiting for an update. Oh and thank you for all the reviews last chapter, I really appreciate it. Anyway, please enjoy the chapter.

* * *

When Flint, Zoey, and Ash had reached the lighthouse it had surprisingly been filled with tourists. Apparently the first floor of the building was open to the public now. Ideally it would have made for the perfect cover to sneak around the lighthouse when security wasn't looking but unfortunately Flint seemed to be basking in the attention drawn towards him instead.

Zoey winced at the ruckus of noise coming from where Flint was loudly conversing with the people all over him.

"…and when the Skuntank came into the court the judge said odor in the court! HA! Wait you don't get it? It's cause, well it's a Skuntank-"

"Flint!" Zoey barked stomping towards him and pushing past the waves of people crowding around the elite four member. He visibly flinched at her voice, stopping his conversation with his fans.

"Hi there!" he waved pleasantly when she glared at him. "Where's Ash?"

Zoey sighed at this, pointing over to where Ash was unsuccessfully hiding behind a potted plant near the elevator, trying to sneak in. Luckily the security guards weren't even paying attention to him, and were instead trying to get through the crowd in order to reach Flint.

"I'm so sorry about this sir!" the first security guard that reached them quickly apologized to Flint. He glanced around uneasily at the people around them "If we had known sooner we would have been able to prevent this from happening."

Flint laughed, "You're completely right. It's my fault for causing all this commotion."

"Oh no, sir! It's not your fault it's just-"

"Anyway," Flint interrupted, not caring for his explanation "this isn't exactly what I came here for."

"Ah, yes that was the other thing." The security officer said quickly. "What did you come for exactly?"

Flint blinked at him, before grinning and shooting Zoey a mischievous look, "Oh, I didn't know I needed a reason to be here. I mean, I know that usually when I show up at places I'm there to save lives or to help with a crisis. But I didn't realize that was my only reason for existence."

"You'd think after countlessly spending time saving everyone's lives that I might want to live my own life. Maybe visit a lighthouse, hmm? So what, I have to consistently put myself in danger and keep everyone else happy while I continue my miserable hero existence."

"I..I'm sorry?" the guard stammered out wide-eyed while Zoey slumped dejectedly, Flint was having too much fun to remember what they were actually here for. She turned back to see Ash had already gotten on the elevator, there was some kind of irony in the fact that Ash had been the one to manage staying on task.

Flint was continuing to act offended, "I'm mean Arceus forbid I actually might want to enjoy myself, you'd think I'd earn that after all this time. You know, be able to show up somewhere without the general public panicking cause they think they're in mortal danger since an Elite four member is there. Has that ever happened to you? I think not!"

"It doesn't happen to you either." Zoey scoffed, but the security guard was too frightened of Flint to notice and Flint ignored her.

"No one knows what it's like to live my life…"Flint sorrowfully finished his rant clutching his chest dramatically. A few tense moments passed and he then smiled easily at the guard casually folding his arms behind his head.

"Regardless, I am actually here on official League business and the general public actually might be in mortal danger. It's funny, when they're actually in danger they flock towards me like a bunch of sparrow suddenly becoming interested in a Voltorb about to use explosion." Flint happily commented chuckling softly, the guard on the other hand was paling at a remarkably unhealthy rate. "Oh but, shh! It's a secret, you can't tell anyone." He whispered the last part so the rest of the crowd couldn't hear; the guard gaped at him silently.

"Flint, I think he's about to faint. Quit goofing around!" Zoey snapped at him.

"Ahaha! The look on you face, you need to take things easy." Flint laughed and slammed a hand hard against the guard's back making the man stumble a few steps, still overwhelmed from Flint's dramatic showing. "Calm down, I'm not here for anything all that important. Just doing a favor for my good ol' pal Sparky. You have official league permission to call him that from now on but you have to record the conversation."

"Volkner sent you here?" the guard asked, managing to now understand how the elite four member liked incorporating ill-advised humor in his conversations. "Where is he anyway?"

Zoey caught Flint freeze momentarily, "Volkner? Oh, he's not here….?"

"No, he visited the lighthouse yesterday. But I haven't heard from him since." Both Zoey and Flint suddenly became alert sending each other a short, discrete look.

"Volkner came to the lighthouse yesterday? Did you see him?" Zoey asked seriously, the guard stared at her momentarily confused. He sent the same look to Flint, who seemed to understand his hesitation.

"Oh, right how rude of me. This is Zoey, she's my personal assistant." Flint was more than amused at the coordinator's reaction, spluttering incoherently at him as an angry hue flushed against her face.

"I-I am not his-" she stopped when Flint subtlety pointed around them and Zoey suddenly realized the amount of people watching them. She sighed, swearing to get revenge on the elite four member.

"Yes…I'm his assistant." Zoey managed to mutter fisting her hands at her sides while twitching the entire time. The guard leaned away slightly.

Flint waved her off, "It's a muscle twitch she's developed to sense danger." Zoey was fuming to the degree that everyone could notice at this point. "Oh, look now she's upset." Flint decided to stop trying his luck as Zoey sent him a death look.

"In any case, what exactly happened with Volkner now?"

"Oh, well he called up suddenly yesterday saying he was coming in to the Lighthouse. He wasn't very specific as to what he was doing, but he said something about the control room."

"The control room, the one that's on the 5th floor?" Volkner casually asked while Zoey took out her phone.

"The control room is on the 7th floor."

"Ah, that's right I forgot." Volkner nodded his head, Zoey quickly sent Ash a text message about where the control room was. "Did you actually talk to him when he got here?"

"Briefly," the guard seemed concerned slightly, "Volkner seemed rather…well, more abrasive than usual. He was upset about something; it might have had to do with that annoying trainer who insisted on a gym battle. In any case, he seemed to be seething…"

"So he was in a pissy mood." Flint concluded simply, he already knew why his friend had been so upset and didn't really want to dwell on this topic. Before the guard could try to fix the blunt inference Flint continued, "How about when he left?"

"I left before Volkner did, he said he could lock up by himself…" the guard finished his sentence in a curious tone, probably wondering why they were asking these questions. Flint and Zoey frowned at each other at this statement.

"Before you left, did you notice anyone suspicious enter?" Zoey asked.

The guard shook his head firmly, "The general public isn't allowed on any of the upper levels yet, so only Lighthouse personnel are allowed to get on the elevator. I'm personally in charge of guarding the elevator." Flint suppressed laughing, thinking about how Ash had easily managed to get to the upper levels of the lighthouse.

"Well did any personnel get on the elevator?"

"I…don't think I'm supposed to tell you that." The guard hesitated.

Flint sighed brushing a hand against his hair, "How many lives do I have to save in order to garner even a bit of respect…" Zoey barely suppressed the urge to roll her eyes.

"Ah, I'm sorry sir it's just…well, the only people who went to the elevator were the people coming in for the night shift. There was only about four of them."

"And what room do they work in?"

"The control room…" the guard replied, slowly beginning to see the connection. "I suppose they might have run into Volkner."

"Hmm…" Flint thought for a moment, "You wouldn't mind getting me their contact information would you?"

Now the guard was completely suspicious, "Why?"

"I'm just trying to find out where Volkner is."

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" the man asked. Flint and Zoey blinked at him, who knew the guard would suddenly be hit with a block of common sense. Zoey felt her phone vibrate suddenly; she checked it to see that it was a text message from Ash. I'm on the 7th floor, get over here soon. Zoey elbowed Flint and showed him the message.

"I'm sorry, but are you having trouble getting in contact with Volkner? And I'm still confused why he asked you to come.." the guard asked, he had suddenly picked up an authoritative tone. Not that Flint or Zoey were intimidated as they turned their attention back to the meek man.

"Uhm…" Flint hesitated, "The thing is, Volkner suddenly called me to visit the lighthouse to help him with something. And after that the jerk doesn't call me back, and even after I dutifully follow his instructions. And now he's gone off and disappeared somewhere."

Flint obviously didn't expect the entire crowd to suddenly gasp at the last sentence; he looked around a bit nervous. "Oh, I forgot you guys were here."

"Idiot!" Zoey hissed grabbing him sharply by the collar and then whispering in his ear, "You can't tell them Volkner is missing! He's the freakin gym leader; there will be mass chaos if everyone finds out. Then the police will know, then Team Galaxy, then Hunter J, and then we're screwed."

"Oh, please! Like I was going to tell them that!" Flint frowned at her. They ignored the whispering crowd that was bewildered that someone was bossing around an elite four member.

"Well, what exactly were you going to say?" there was a short silence. Zoey sighed, "I need to go find Ash before he messes something up. You fix this situation, now!" She swiftly pushed him back towards the confused crowd watching him stumble to regain balance. "Even if you don't manage to make it, buy us some time to check everything out."

Flint looked slightly affronted, "You're abandoning me!"

"You're the one who wanted the attention, either deal with it or drown in it. Just remember to drown slowly." She grinned triumphantly before turning to slink away. Flint faced back to the front and nearly jumped at all the eyes set on him.

"What happened to Volkner?"

"Why are you tracking him down?"

"Where is he?"

Flint flinched at the barrage of questions, having a hard time believing these were the same people that were fawning over him not that long ago. Well, at least the people of Sunyshore were concerned about their gym leader. And the chaos created enough of a distraction for Zoey to sneak onto the elevator.

"Alright, alright calm down." He loudly cried out, sounding just annoyed enough to quite the crowd. "Look, Volkner hasn't spontaneously combusted or anything. I got a call from him to come to the lighthouse. He hasn't called me back, and he isn't here. I'm just trying to figure out where he could be."

"But aren't you his best friend? Shouldn't you know where he is?"

"Right..well, wait. I'm Volkner's best friend. Crap, when did that happen?" Flint mumbled, "Oh well, look. We all know how Volkner can be right? Suddenly he gets inspiration to go do some stupid unnecessary makeover of the city and he runs off all excited, or as excited as he can get, to go plan the entire reconstruction of this place."

"You're right, he does like doing that…" the guard commented in agreement.

Flint grinned, excited that they were actually believing him. "Exactly, I was just trying to find out where he is so I wouldn't have to do the job he dumped on me alone."

"What did Volkner send you here to do?" Flint cursed silently, he hadn't thought that far. He obviously couldn't tell them why Volkner actually told his friend to come.

"Uhm…well, you see.." Flint laughed nervously as everyone's attention was solely on him. "There is an…issue with the, um…lighting system here." He explained using his hands expressively, he continued when receiving the positive acknowledgment of a nod from most of the crowd.

"And since I am an expert with fire, and thusly light, Volkner asked me to check up on it." All the tourists nodded in unison again, ignoring that the lighting system had nothing to do with actual fire.

"So that's why I'm here. Today. Checking on the, uh lighting system. And its uhm…operational conditioning. And I have to do it alone." He warned glancing at the security officers subtly, "Because…it's very dangerous. Can't have other people involved. I could die." A sudden gasp escaped from everyone followed quickly by banter escalated of chatter.

"Wait, wait! Maybe not die, but…maybe a serious injury?" Another gasp echoed throughout the first floor. "Err no, no….I could get moderately injured. And as an Elite Four remember it's within my duty to insure the general public is safe from moderately distressful situations and/or injuries. So if you'd be so kind to let me carry out my job." The crowd seemed satisfied by the putrid explanation.

However the security guard that was supposed to be watching the elevator, the same one Ash and Zoey managed to snag a ride on, frowned and walked up to Flint, "Wait, so there was something wrong with the 'lighting system' which means there was something wrong with the electrical circuits. So our electric expert gym leader called in a fire expert to fix the problem."

Everyone managed to shut up in that one moment. Flint gulped.

"…solar panels." He practically blurted.

"Solar panels?"

"That…that's where all the electricity the runs this city comes from. The solar panels. He needs me to check on those, on the solar panels. There could be all sorts of issues with them, and you know the sun…fire, it all connects." Flint managed to remain calm with an unflappable smile despite basically implying that he was here to possibly fix issues with the sun.

"Oh, I see. That makes sense. I don't see how that's all that dangerous though…"

"Panels, fall on them serious burns. I'm used to it, but well I wouldn't want to ruin that perfect skin tone you've managed to capture officer."

"Ah…I see, I'll ensure no one disturbs you sir. Go ahead." And with that Flint practically flew towards the elevators praying that none of them got a rational thought that nothing he said had made sense.

*****XXX*****

Paul was trying to train in the backyard with Electabuzz. The electric type performed a powerful, ear-clamping thunderbolt. The Pokémon seemed excited about the attack, pumping its fists in the air. Paul smirked in amusement; Electabuzz always had an overblown ego that Paul had tried to get rid of. But as he watched the electric Pokémon happily march around he knew that trying to cover his Pokémon's personality would only harm its chances of improving at all.

It was strange how he had changed the way he viewed training all of the sudden. It also wasn't hard to trace where this change came from, and she was currently trapped in her bedroom after an unpleasant conversation. He decided not to go down that track again…

Suddenly, out of nowhere Paul felt something hit his head. He turned around in confusion to see no one there. He blinked before he saw another projectile headed straight toward him; however he managed to catch it before it hit him. Thus causing him to miss the other object that was thrown right behind it.

"Ow, what the hell…" Paul scowled, rubbing his head. He looked at the object in his hand; it was a small shampoo bottle. "What in the world…"

"Hey! Do have to throw the conditioner to get your attention up here!" Paul finally looked up to see Dawn bending over the railing of the second store balcony.

He glared at her, "You were the one throwing these random things at me?"

She wasn't intimidated in the least, shrugging nonchalantly, "You're the one who ignored me trying to get your attention. It's your own fault."

She smiled when he sighed at her response, that is until he looked up at her with a neutral expression. "What is it?"

"What?"

"Why were you trying to get my attention?" he clarified.

"Oh, um…" Dawn had wanted to talk about how their last conversation ended. But now it seemed awkward to bring that up. "Well…"

"If you weren't going to say anything you can hobble back to your room."

"I think we need to talk Paul." Dawn called out, she paused watching him stare back at her blankly before he turned back around. "Hey! Don't turn your back on me!"

"Go back to bed, your ankle-"

"Is fine! My ankle is fine, geez it was a sprain. It hasn't been ripped off or anything." Dawn scoffed. She looked back down when her comment was met with silence and saw Paul had looked back up at her.

"So you want me to wait for something like that to happen?" he asked coldly. Dawn's eyes widened, alarmed at how serious he sounded.

"Paul," her voice was much softer. "That isn't going to happen. I don't…is this what you were talking about before? Why you didn't want me to come?" she sighed to herself.

"I slipped on a poke ball Paul, it wasn't your fault it was an accident." Dawn pressed while looking down on him. "All of us are in this together and we know how dangerous it can get." Paul remained silent, staring at the ground.

Dawn blushed as she continued, "Although it's sweet that you are worried about me…" She giggled when his face turned red and he silently scowled at her. "Besides, for your information, I'm a pretty darn good trainer."

Paul's eyes finally met hers; he noticed how they were brimming again with her ever present optimism. She smirked with confidence, "You're definitely going to need my superior skills to help you, don't underestimate me!"

After a few moments Paul closed his eyes and smiled, "Right, of course. How could I forget? You battled so wonderful against me last time…except I won."

"What!" Dawn practically yelled from the balcony. "Hey! We both know I technically won that battle!"

"They why did I get the ribbon?" Paul asked simply, he tried not to laugh at the flustered look appeared on her face.

"Because…the time limit…and the clock, which you broke…and I…"she glared when he started smirking. Dawn wished she could leap down from the balcony and wipe off his smug look personally. She pointed at him, "My Pokémon was still standing while yours fainted, I won!"

"I guess your right…" Paul shrugged, "Although, I did basically let you win…"

"AH! Unbearable, I don't care what you say I won-_don't walk away from me_!"

Paul had turned his back on her, mostly because he really didn't want her to see how he was laughing. He couldn't believe it; the girl once again was able to make him feel better. He wasn't sure what it was but there was something about her.

His thoughts about Dawn stopped when a cascade of water blasted right next to him making the young trainer jump to his side. He whipped back around wildly to see Dawn pointing at him with Piplup standing on the railing of the balcony next to her.

"Piplup! Show that jerk how powerful we can be, aim for his head this time!" The little water Pokémon was more than willing to oblige, pumping up for another attack. "Whirlpool his face!"

"Gah!" Paul braced himself for the water when a yellow tinted screen appeared before him. He was surprised to see Electabuzz appear behind him grinning happily. Electabuzz stomped forward mashing it's fists together and letting out a burst of electricity. Piplup didn't seem impressed, wagging its flipper back in response.

"Well, if it's a battle you want…" Paul smirked, standing back up.

"Uh…" Dawn hadn't expected Electabuzz to protect its trainer like that, and she certainly didn't expect a battle. In most cases she would gladly accept, but Electabuzz vs. Piplup was no battle at all. Unfortunately Piplup didn't seem to understand this. She whispered harshly to her starter Pokémon, "Piplup you're a water Pokémon, and that right there is a super powerful electric type. Piplup, listen to me!"

"Electabuzz, you ready?" Paul asked coolly, his Pokémon responded with a nod.

"Wait, wait! I didn't-"

"Paul!" Reggie suddenly burst out the back door. His eyes were burrowed with a serious expression, until he saw the current scene. Paul looked over at him, while Dawn stared at the breeder from the balcony. Electabuzz and Piplup stood between them sending various taunts back and forth.

Reggie paused to take everything in, "Is this like a parody of Romeo and Juliet or something?" The young man was pleased when both of the teenagers blushed.

"No!" they both shouted at the same time.

"Okay, there isn't any time for your lame excuses." Reggie waved them off before they could respond. "There is something I need to tell you. Volkner sent two messages to Flint's phone."

"What!" they both cried simultaneously.

"Well, how am I not supposed to suspect anything when you two even know what each other is going to say. Kinda cute actually."

"Reggie!"

* * *

I'm not sure whether I wrote this chapter particularly well. I recently re-read this entire story to emulate the writing style I've had so far, while also noticing all the typos and other grammatical errors along the way. Sorry about that, it's just when you've finished writing a chapter and all that's left is editing….I tend to rush past that part. Anyway, I think we should all appreciate the fact that I wrote something regardless of its competency. If anyone is still with me at this point, you can show your appreciation in song…or review with the new review box thingy. But seriously if you're there, I would love to know how I'm doing. Thanks, anyway. Next update will come much sooner that this one did, I promise. Like much sooner cause I already wrote it :P


	25. Access

A/N: I suck so bad it hurts.

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It hadn't taken long for Flint to ride up the elevator to the 7th floor where he was immediately greeted with his two companion's backs. They were blocking his view from the hallway and he whistled loudly to gain their attention.

"Hey, you managed to make it Flint." Ash called throwing a hand up in greeting.

"Glad, you could join us." Zoey said smoothly as Flint walked up to them. He smiled at her stiffly.

"Yeah, thanks by the way. Don't be surprised if we have to jump out of the windows to get away from those guys if they figured out I lied."

"No one cares about you enough to riot." Zoey dismissed easily, he gaped at her. "Getting back to the point, we're pretty sure this is where all the action took place." Flint glared at her shortly before he composed himself to actually look at the hallway. Not too far from where they were standing were several dark, charred areas scattered around the ground. Flint leaned down running his hands over the surface of the floor; he glanced up to see several similar burnt patches randomly placed on the walls. Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder to sniff around.

"Looks like there was a fire." Ash muttered.

"High voltages could cause the same effect," Flint rose back up looking around with a thoughtful countenance. "It certainly looks like a battle took place here." Flint crouched down near Pikachu to get a closer look at the marks on the floor. "These look like they're from Raichu, hm? What do you say Pikachu?"

"Pika." The electric mouse nodded in confirmation. Flint glanced at the burn marks on the wall.

"Those are from a fire-type, definitely….a Houndoom maybe?"

"So basically Volkner got in a fight with someone, but then what?" Zoey asked, leaning against an unmarked part of the wall. "We've checked all the rooms in this hallway, there aren't any markings in any of them. Although, for some reason the control room isn't opening…"

"Maybe Volkner got captured." Ash grimaced when silence followed his statement, he was hoping for some sort of protest against the notion. Flint was still staring carefully at the burn marks, quickly bringing up a point.

"Look at these burn marks, guys." Flint pointed as the charred areas made a splotchy pattern towards the end of the hallway. "They almost form a trail."

"Yeah, it looks like he got attacked over there." Zoey pointed near the control room, "It probably happened right after he left the control room. The path continues past that corner…" The trio followed the burnt trail turning into the next hallway. "And it ends…"

"Over here." Ash finished on a strange note, pointing to the dead end of the hallway. All three trainers stared silently at the corner which was almost completely blackened from the ceiling to the floor.

"Hmm. Certainly, a bit of the overkill. I mean you don't need this much fire to burn some wallpaper off." Flint commented. "And it completely ruins the chance to repaint it."

"I'm ignoring that completely." Zoey rolled her eyes and concentrated on something that was bothering her. "According to this little charred path of the Galaxy grunts chasing him, Volkner tried escaping by running down this way."

"But that doesn't make sense; if Volkner was trying to get away he would have headed towards this side of the hallway to where the elevator was." Ash said, "Why would he purposefully head towards a dead end?"

"Maybe he wanted to get caught…" Flint mumbled. Zoey and Ash shared a look of confusion but before either could question the elite four member a phone starting ringing. Ash reached into his pocket to take out his cellphone.

"It's Reggie." Ash informed the other two before answering. "Hello?" a startled look immediately infiltrated Ash's face before it was replaced with confusion. He turned around with the phone, "Whoa…wait, slow down Reggie. Say that again." Ash turned back to the hallway where the control room was, Zoey and Flint followed him.

Flint glanced at Zoey, "You said the control room isn't opening?" she nodded.

"Yeah, it's locked tight. I'm not that surprised because it is the control room; its access is probably only limited to the crew of the Lighthouse." Flint frowned glancing at the door of the control room. "The lock on the door is password protected."

"A number password?"

"Yes, it's a six digit code though. We'd waste too much time trying to figure it out."

"That control room faces the harbor north of Sunyshore…" he mumbled. "That's where Paul found the Team Galaxy base, I wonder if-"

"Guys! Hold up, this is important!" Ash rushed towards Flint and Zoey wagging his phone impatiently. "Reggie just told me that Volkner sent two messages to your phone Flint!"

"What? My phone, I-" he patted his pocket and cursed when he didn't feel anything. "I guess, I forgot it at Volkner's house. But, wait he sent me two messages? When was this?"

"Let me put Reggie on speaker…" Ash mumbled fumbling with the cell phone. "Hello? Reggie?"

"Yeah, I hear you. Flint, Zoey you there?"

"Reggie! What happened?" Zoey asked instantly.

"Volkner sent two messages on my phone?"

There was a pause, "…Yes, I was checking your phone to see if Volkner had tried getting in contact with you. Suddenly it started vibrating and you received two messages."

"What did it say on them?"

"The first one says: Lighthouse, control room, password-981264." Reggie said. "Does that help you guys at all?"

"It's probably the passcode to opening the door for the control room. Volkner must have locked it before those guys attacked."

"Then there must be something important in there he was trying to protect, what was the number again?" When Reggie repeated it, Ash wrote it down and rushed towards the control room to input the number.

"What does the other message say?" Zoey asked. Reggie sighed before continuing.

"It says: Computer Access, computer password-…"

"Wait, what? That's all it says?"

"Yes…what did you guys seen when you got there."

"A lot of damage, Volkner obviously got into a fight." Flint sighed, "He must have been typing that message when those guys attacked."

"The message still doesn't make much sense." Zoey pointed out.

"Well actually-"

"Guys, the control room is open! Ash called out. Zoey and Flint hurried towards him to reach the room. When they got in the room looked pretty normal. There was a large window that showed the north harbor, along with the warehouses right nearby. The control panel was pushed up against the window, and sitting in the middle of the panel was probably the closest computer looking device in the room.

"This must have been what the message was talking about." Flint said. He sat down in the chair in front of the keyboard and tried turning the computer on. When the screen lit up, the computer immediately asked for a password and 9 blanks appeared. "Could you repeat the second message again Reggie, Ash didn't hear it."

"It said: Computer Access, computer password-…that's it."

"Are you kidding? It gets cut off right before the password!" Ash let out a frustrated sigh.

"I still don't get what the first part of the message is saying. What does Computer Access mean? Does it literally mean access to the computer? But why would Volkner tell us to get on the computer?"

Flint shook his head staring seriously as the screen "No, Access is a tracking program that the League uses."

"A tracking program?" Reggie asked his voice ringing out from Ash's phone.

"Why would the league have a tracking program?"

"It's part of a research pact the league has with professors. They wanted a program that would help track certain Pokémon for research purposes. So the league created this tracking device that you can just stick onto a Pokémon to track them. Lately the league hasn't exactly been using them for research purposes…."

"A tracking program? Well why does Volkner have it."

"I'm not sure." Flint frowned, "I mean I know some gym leaders use it for their own research, but Volkner isn't that kind of person. Researching is not his favorite pastime."

Zoey frowned "…I'm not sure why Volkner wants us to get on Access, but I'm sure we can figure it out when we get on the program.

"How are we going to do that? We don't even know the computer password!" Ash exclaimed.

"Uh…guys, I should probably go." Reggie interrupted apologetically. "I don't think I'll be any help with trying to figure out the password. And I should probably catch everyone else up with the news anyway."

"Alright, thanks for all the information Reggie." Zoey said.

"We'll call you if we figure anything out." Flint added on.

"Alright. Good luck guys." When Reggie hung up, all three trainers looked up at the computer screen.

"Okay then…9 letter password to Volkner's computer." Zoey nodded her head, "Well, go for it Flint."

"Whaa! Why are you pushing this on me?" Flint protested.

"Need I remind you, you're Volkner's best friend." Zoey annunciated with a smirk, Flint scowled.

"Oh stop threatening me." He looked up at the screen and stared at it for a few seconds. He then typed something in. After a few seconds, the password was denied. He tried again, and again.

"Come on Flint." Ash complained after the elite four member got it wrong for the fifth time, "You're not doing a very good job…"

"Well, why don't you give it a try then." Flint offered, moving over to allow Ash to type on the keyboard. Ash stared at the screen and then started mouthing some words, spelling out each letter slowly. "Trying to remember the alphabet there?" Ash glared at him shortly.

"Ooh! I know." Ash quickly typed something.

"What did you type in?"

"Electricity."

"…Electricity is more than 9 letters how did you," Zoey paused. "Ash, you spelled electricity wrong."

"Oh. Hold on, let me try something." Ash exclaimed, Zoey and Flint watched as the boy slowly typed in 1, 2, and 3 before Zoey lost patience and slammed her fist down.

"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 is not the password Ash!"

"You don't know that!" he protested back. He quickly typed in the rest and when the password failed again, he lost confidence in his abilities and cowered away from the keyboard.

"His password probably involves something personal only he knows about." Zoey stated.

Ash groaned, "Then how are we supposed to figure it out?" The trio sat in silence. Flint was staring out into the harbor his eyes glazing over with a distant look.

"Okay, let's take a step back here. I think it's pretty positive that Volkner got captured." Zoey and Ash grimaced at this. "If that's the case then who captured him."

"Team Galaxy."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well…he came here because he thought there was someone guarding the Team Galaxy base from the Lighthouse."

"If what Paul and Dawn overheard from those Galaxy grunts is true, then Hunter J's base is right next door. They could have captured him too."

"So what…who cares who kidnapped him?"

"No wait…let's think about this. We came here because Volkner was missing. Volkner came here because he thought someone was tampering with the lighthouse. Volkner is now gone, presumably kidnapped. Why hasn't anything happened to us yet?"

Zoey stared at him blankly before blinking and looking away, "I…I never thought about that."

"They kidnapped Volkner cause they were trying to protect something, either Volkner caught them doing something or he was about to catch them. If they aren't worrying about protecting it from us…then…."

"Then they've hidden whatever they were protecting?" Ash asked.

"So the question is what were they protecting?" Zoey continued. She stared at both of them with widening eyes, "The base, right? They were protecting the base."

"Of course!" Flint yelled, "That's what happened, Volkner must have seen the base from here."

"But we kind of already know where the base is already." Ash mentioned, "When Paul and Dawn dropped in on it."

Flint smirked, "They don't know that. They assumed this was the first time Volkner heard about it, so they kidnapped him. Either those Galaxy grunts or Hunter J."

"So we just went in a huge circle of conversation there, great job guys. Volkner is gone, congratulations." Zoey quipped unenthusiastically.

"Nope. I figured it all out." Flint said smugly crossing his arms behind his head with a prideful look. Ash and Zoey shot him bewildered looks.

"Indulge us." Zoey said with narrow eyes.

"I was trying to think about why Volkner wants us to get on Access. It's a tracking program; he's tracking himself on the system. He purposely got caught so that when they captured him we could follow him back to the base. I bet once we get on we'll know exactly where Volkner is in that base."

Ash shrugged, "Makes sense."

"That seems like a lot of assumption to me." Zoey replied skeptically.

"But it makes sense. Think about it, we know where the base is. What is stopping us from barging in their guns blazing?"

"What? Are you crazy? We'd get killed!"

"But, why would we get killed? What is the problem with just prancing in guns blazing?" Flint asked, "We technically know where the base is."

"We have no idea what their numbers our, that's a freakin base. There are like 7 of us 8 if we can find Volkner."

"That's irrelevant. We're basically studs when it comes to Pokémon battling. We can take on their numbers. So what would another problem be?"

Zoey looked a little frustrated, "How about navigation? If we go into one of those bases, the other base will know. And what was the whole point of this, to find Chimchar!"

Flint seemed to be getting excited, he jumped up closer to Zoey "And what would be the solution to that problem?"

"What?" Zoey exclaimed. Ash glanced between the two giving them strange looks. "Solution?"

"How would we be able to infiltrate both bases without setting off an alarm for either of them."

"Invisibility!" Ash piped up, Zoey and Flint glared at him. The younger trainer shut up.

Flint turned back to Zoey, "Well, what would be a solution to the navigation problem."

"I-I don't know…a map, a map of both bases I guess." Zoey muttered, she rolled her eyes. "Where the hell are we supposed to get those."

Zoey glanced back up and was startled to see Flint grinning wickedly. "What is your problem?"

"Access makes maps."

"What…."

"Because it tracks Pokémon, there are situations where a Pokémon will get stuck in a cave or underwater. Anyway, they built a program where they will formulate map based on where the Pokémon you are tracking is."

"So…you are saying, if we get on Access we can get a freakin map of the entire base. We can navigate it and everything."

Flint nodded with excitement, "And because Hunter J's base is right nearby we can get a map of their base too."

Zoey punched Flint square in the shoulder, "You could have led with this!"

"Ouch! Jeez, you're hard to please."

"So once we get onto Access…we can get maps to the base and rescue Volkner and Chimchar." Ash said slowly finally catching up with his friends. "That's all fantastic…"

"Yeah, right!"

"Certainly looks like it."

"…except we still can't get on the computer." Ash'a voice flat lined as he pointed to the computer.

Zoey's bright face dropped. "He's right."

"Spoil-sport." Flint muttered. "In any case call Reggie. Once we do figure out this stupid password, we need a plan. Half of us need to rescue Volkner while the other half need to help Chimchar."

* * *

A/N: THIS FIC IS TAKING TOO LONG TO FINISH, BLAAARGH! This was literally supposed to be done by now.


End file.
